Analogy between a two-well Bose-Einstein condensate and atom diffraction

Abstract

We compare the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in two coupled potential wells with atoms diffracting from a standing light wave. The corresponding Hamiltonians have an identical appearance, but with a different set of commutation rules. Well-known diffraction phenomena as Pendellosung oscillations between opposite momenta in the case of Bragg diffraction, and adiabatic transitions between momentum states are shown to have analogies in the two-well case. They represent the collective exchange of a fixed number of atoms between the wells.