Scattering of Matter Waves in Spatially Inhomogeneous Environments

Authors

F. Tsitoura, University of Athens
P. Krüger, University of Nottingham
P. G. Kevrekidis, University of Massachusetts Amherst
D.J. Frantzeskakis, University of Athens

Publication Date

2015

Journal or Book Title

PHYSICAL REVIEW A

Abstract

We study scattering of quasi-one-dimensional matter waves at an interface of two spatial domains, one with repulsive and one with attractive interatomic interactions. It is shown that the incidence of a Gaussian wave packet from the repulsive to the attractive region gives rise to generation of a soliton train. More specifically, the number of emergent solitons can be controlled, e.g., by the variation of the amplitude or the width of the incoming wave packet. Furthermore, we study the reflectivity of a soliton incident from the attractive region to the repulsive one. We find the reflection coefficient numerically and employ analytical methods, which treat the soliton as a particle (for moderate and large amplitudes) or a quasilinear wave packet (for small amplitudes), to determine the critical soliton momentum (as a function of the soliton amplitude) for which total reflection is observed.

Comments

Uploaded as published. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.91.033633

Pages

033633, 8 pp.

Volume

91

Issue

033633

Recommended Citation

Tsitoura, F.; Krüger, P.; Kevrekidis, P. G.; and Frantzeskakis, D.J., "Scattering of Matter Waves in Spatially Inhomogeneous Environments" (2015). PHYSICAL REVIEW A. 1221.
Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/math_faculty_pubs/1221