Nonlinear coherent modes are the collective states of trapped Bose atoms, corresponding to different energy levels. These modes can be created starting from the ground-state condensate that can be excited by means of a resonant alternating field. A thorough theory for the resonant excitation of the coherent modes is presented. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the feasibility of this process are found. Temporal behavior of fractional populations and of relative phases exhibits dynamic critical phenomena on a critical line of the parametric manifold. The origin of these critical phenomena is elucidated by analyzing the structure of the phase space. An atomic cloud, containing the coherent modes, possesses several interesting features, such as interference patterns, interference current, spin squeezing, and massive entanglement. The developed theory suggests a generalization of resonant effects in optics to nonlinear systems of Bose-condensed atoms.

• Received 2 May 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.043602