Chaotic dynamics in a periodically driven spin-1 condensate

We use periodically modulated magnetic fields to drive spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and study the corresponding spin-mixing dynamics. Due to the time-dependent driving, this system permits chaotic dynamics depending on the drive parameters, which could not occur in previous studies. From the investigation of the Poincare sections, we find there exist complex trajectories in the phase space, leading to very complicated structures of the phase space with mixed regular and chaotic regions. By calculating the quasienergy levels of the corresponding Floquet operators, the signatures of quantum chaos are also found in this system. The level spacing distribution is very close to the Poisson distribution or Wigner distribution when the corresponding classical dynamics is regular or chaotic.