Spatial structure of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a combined trap*

Abstract

Abstract We study the spatial structure of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) with a space-dependent s-wave scattering length in a combined trap. There exists a space-dependent nonlinear atomic current in the system. The atomic current has an important influence on the spatial structure of the BEC. Research findings reveal that a large chemical potential can effectively suppress the chaotic spatial structure in the BEC system. Due to the large chemical potential, a strong atomic current is necessary to make the system lose its periodic spatial structure and lead the system into a chaotic spatial structure. But when the atomic current intensity exceeds a critical value, the chaotic spatial structure of the BEC will be completely eliminated and the system will always be kept in a series of single-periodic states as the atomic current becomes stronger. For a very weak atomic current, the spatial structure of the BEC is very sensitive to the intensity of the atomic current and a very small change of the intensity can dramatically change the spatial structure of the BEC. The effects of the combined trap parameters on the spatial structure of BECs are also discussed.