Abstract

The dynamics of Bose condensate formation in a harmonic trap potential are modelled using a mean field treatment of the condensing state, evolving according to the Gross-Pitaevskii non-linear Schrodinger equation [1], This equation is solved numerically with growth simulated by allowing N, the number of condensed particules, to increase monotonically with time, to a final value N_f For N(t = 0) ≈ 0, an appropriate initial state is a Harmonic oscillator eigenstate, which our results show will grow into an almost pure condensate eigenstate provided the characteristic time τ_cnd for the growth is very large.

© 1996 Optical Society of America