Transistor-Like Behavior of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a Triple Well Potential

Abstract

In the last several years considerable efforts have been devoted to developing Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)-based devices for applications such as fundamental research, precision measurements and integrated atom optics. Such devices capable of complex functionality can be designed from simpler building blocks as is done in microelectronics. One of the most important components of microelectronics is a transistor. We demonstrate that Bose-Einstein condensate in a three well potential structure where the tunneling of atoms between two wells is controlled by the population in the third, shows behavior similar to that of an electronic field effect transistor. Namely, it exhibits switching and both absolute and differential gain. The role of quantum fluctuations is analyzed, estimates of switching time and parameters for the potential are presented.