Co-propagating Bose-Einstein condensates and electromagnetic radiation: Emission of mutually localized structures

Journal article, 2011

We have studied the details of the formation of mutually guided and localized structures of co-propagating coherent electromagnetic radiation and a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). In the limit of zero temperature and large detuning, we have used a semiclassical model based on Maxwell equations coupled to the Schrodinger equation which includes the back action of the atoms on the radiation. Following numerically the two systems, we have found that a variety of effects can be displayed depending on the initial conditions: The formation of single-hump mutually guided structures of atoms and radiation seems to be only one of the possible outcomes of the interaction. Other effects we have observed via numerical simulations are, for instance, the creation of atom-laser solitarylike structures which are then symmetrically ejected from the initial central peak or similar symmetrical structures trapped in a bound state and thus oscillating about the central point in a way somehow reminiscent of purely nonlinear optics effect.