Transmission resonances in above-barrier reflection of ultra-cold atoms by the Rosen–Morse potential

Abstract

Quantum above-barrier reflection of ultra-cold atoms by the Rosen–Morse potential is analytically considered within the mean-field Gross–Pitaevskii approximation. Reformulating the problem of reflectionless transmission as a quasi-linear eigenvalue problem for the potential depth, an approximation for the specific height of the potential that supports reflectionless transmission of the incoming matter wave is derived via modification of the Rayleigh–Schrödinger time-independent perturbation theory. The approximation provides a highly accurate description of the resonance position for all the resonance orders if the nonlinearity parameter is small compared with the incoming particle's chemical potential. Notably, the result for the first transmission resonance turns out to be exact, i.e. the derived formula for the resonant potential height gives the exact value of the first nonlinear resonance's position for all the allowed variation range of the involved parameters, the nonlinearity parameter and chemical potential. This has been demonstrated by constructing the exact solution of the problem for the first resonance. Furthermore, the presented approximation reveals that, in contrast to the linear case, in the nonlinear case reflectionless transmission may occur not only for potential wells but also for potential barriers with positive potential height. It also shows that the nonlinear shift of the resonance position from the position of the corresponding linear resonance is approximately described as a linear function of the resonance order. Finally, a compact (yet, highly accurate) analytic formula for the nth-order resonance position is constructed via combination of analytical and numerical methods.