Transition to Instability in a Kicked Bose-Einstein Condensate

A periodically kicked ring of a Bose-Einstein condensate is considered as a nonlinear generalization of the quantum kicked rotor. For weak interactions between atoms, periodic motion (anti-resonance) becomes quasiperiodic (quantum beating) but remains stable. There exists a critical strength of interactions beyond which quasiperiodic motion becomes chaotic, resulting in an instability of the condensate manifested by exponential growth in the number of noncondensed atoms. Similar behavior is observed for dynamically localized states (essentially quasiperiodic motions), where stability remains for weak interactions but is destroyed by strong interactions.