Josephson oscillation and induced collapse in an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

Using the axially-symmetric time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation we study the Josephson oscillation of an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a one-dimensional periodic optical-lattice potential. We find that the Josephson frequency is virtually independent of the number of atoms in the BEC and of the inter-atomic interaction (attractive or repulsive). We study the dependence of Josephson frequency on the laser wave length and the strength of the optical-lattice potential. For a fixed laser wave length (795 nm), the Josephson frequency decreases with increasing strength as found in the experiment of Cataliotti {\it et al.} [Science {\bf 293}, 843 (2001)]. For a fixed strength, the Josephson frequency remains essentially unchanged for a reasonable variation of laser wave length around 800 nm. However, for a fixed strength, the Josephson oscillation is disrupted with the increase of laser wave length beyond 2000 nm leading to a collapse of a sufficiently attractive BEC. These features of Josephson oscillation can be tested experimentally with present set ups.