Self-interference of a single Bose-Einstein condensate due to boundary effects

Abstract

A simple model wavefunction, consisting of a linear combination of two free-particle Gaussians, describes many of the observed features seen in the interactions of two isolated Bose-Einstein condensates as they expand, overlap, and interfere. We show that a simple extension of this idea can be used to predict the qualitative time-development of a single expanding BEC condensate produced near an infinite wall boundary, giving similar interference phenomena. We also briefly discuss other possible time-dependent behaviors of single BEC condensates in restricted geometries,such as wave packet revivals.