Anisotropy in s-wave Bose-Einstein condensate collisions and its relationship to superradiance

Abstract

We report the experimental realization of a single-species atomic four-wave mixing process with Bose-Einstein-condensate collisions for which the angular distribution of scattered atom pairs is not isotropic, despite the collisions being in the s-wave regime. Theoretical analysis indicates that this anomalous behavior can be explained by the anisotropic nature of the gain in the medium. There are two competing anisotropic processes: classical trajectory deflections due to the mean-field potential and Bose-enhanced scattering which bears similarity to superradiance. We analyze the relative importance of these processes in the dynamical buildup of the anisotropic density distribution of scattered atoms and compare the Bose enhancement effects to those in optically pumped superradiance.