Self-interference of a toroidal Bose–Einstein condensate

: L A Toikka

Publisher: Institute of Physics

: BRISTOL; TEMPLE CIRCUS, TEMPLE WAY, BRISTOL BS1 6BE, ENGLAND

: 2014

: New Journal of Physics

: New J. Phys

: 043011

: 16

: 14

: 1367-2630

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043011

We demonstrate the self-interference of a single Bose–Einstein condensate on a non-simply connected geometry, focussing on a toroidally trapped ring-shaped condensate. First, we show how the opposite parts of the ring can interfere using the Wigner function representation. Then, using analytical expressions for the time-evolution of a freely expanding ring-shaped condensate with and without a persistent current, we show that the self-interference of the ring-shaped condensate is possible only in the absence of the persistent current. We conclude by proposing an experimental protocol for the creation of ring dark solitons using the toroidal self-interference.