Josephson oscillations in binary mixtures of F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We analyze theoretically Josephson oscillations in a mixture of two Zeeman states of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. We find that in the strongly polarized case, the less populated component exhibits a complex dynamics with an anti-Josephson behavior, i.e., oscillates in phase with the more populated one. In the balanced population case, the Josephson oscillations unveil a dependence with the different spin collision channels. This effect could be used to experimentally measure the distinct scattering lengths entering in the description of a spinor condensate. Our numerical results are in close agreement with an analytical description of the binary mixture using a two-mode model. © 2009 The American Physical Society.