Strong-coupling dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well   trap
  Dynamics of the repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double-well trap is explored within the 3D time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The model avoids numerous common approximations (two-mode treatment, time-space factorization, fixed values of the chemical potential and barrier penetrability, etc) and thus provides a realistic description of BEC dynamics, including both weak-coupling (sub-barrier) and strong-coupling (above-barrier) regimes and their crossover. The strong coupling regime is achieved by increasing the number $N$ of BEC atoms and thus the chemical potential. The evolution with $N$ of Josephson oscillations (JO) and Macroscopic Quantum Self-Trapping (MQST) is examined and the crucial impact of the BEC interaction is demonstrated. At weak coupling, the calculations well reproduce the JO/MQST experimental data. At strong coupling, with a significant overlap of the left and right BECs, we observe a remarkable persistence of the Josephson-like dynamics: the JO and MQST converge to a high-frequency JO-like mode where both population imbalance and phase difference oscillate around the zero averages. The results open new avenues for BEC interferometry. 
V. O. Nesterenko, A. N. Novikov and E. Suraud
cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.other