Matter-wave interference, Josephson oscillation and its disruption in a Bose-Einstein condensate on an optical lattice Original Research Article

Using the axially-symmetric time-dependent mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation we study the Josephson oscillation in a repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate trapped by a harmonic plus an one-dimensional optical-lattice potential to describe the experiments by Cataliotti et al. [Science 293 (2001) 843, New J. Phys. 5 (2003) 71.1]. After a study of the formation of matter-wave interference upon releasing the condensate from the optical trap, we directly investigate the alternating atomic superfluid Josephson current upon displacing the harmonic trap along the optical axis. The Josephson current is found to be disrupted upon displacing the harmonic trap through a distance greater than a critical distance signaling a superfluid to a classical insulator transition in the condensate.