Josephson tunneling of dark solitons in a double-well potential

We study the dynamics of matter waves in an effectively one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in a double well potential. We consider in particular the case when one of the double wells confines excited states. Similarly to the known ground state oscillations, the states can tunnel between the wells experiencing the physics known for electrons in a Josephson junction, or be self-trapped. As the existence of dark solitons in a harmonic trap are continuations of such non-ground state excitations, one can view the Josephson-like oscillations as tunnelings of dark solitons. Numerical existence and stability analysis based on the full equation is performed, where it is shown that such tunneling can be stable. Through a numerical path following method, unstable tunneling is also obtained in different parameter regions. A coupled-mode system is derived and compared to the numerical observations. Regions of (in)stability of Josephson tunneling are discussed and highlighted. Finally, we outline an experimental scheme designed to explore such dark soliton dynamics in the laboratory.Comment: submitte

Variational approximations to homoclinic snaking

We investigate the snaking of localised patterns, seen in numerous physical applications, using a variational approximation. This method naturally introduces the exponentially small terms responsible for the snaking structure, that are not accessible via standard multiple-scales asymptotic techniques. We obtain the symmetric snaking solutions and the asymmetric 'ladder' states, and also predict the stability of the localised states. The resulting approximate formulas for the width of the snaking region show good agreement with numerical results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitte

High-Order-Mode Soliton Structures in Two-Dimensional Lattices with Defocusing Nonlinearity

While fundamental-mode discrete solitons have been demonstrated with both self-focusing and defocusing nonlinearity, high-order-mode localized states in waveguide lattices have been studied thus far only for the self-focusing case. In this paper, the existence and stability regimes of dipole, quadrupole and vortex soliton structures in two-dimensional lattices induced with a defocusing nonlinearity are examined by the theoretical and numerical analysis of a generic envelope nonlinear lattice model. In particular, we find that the stability of such high-order-mode solitons is quite different from that with self-focusing nonlinearity. As a simple example, a dipole (``twisted'') mode soliton which may be stable in the focusing case becomes unstable in the defocusing regime. Our results may be relevant to other two-dimensional defocusing periodic nonlinear systems such as Bose-Einstein condensates with a positive scattering length trapped in optical lattices.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Symmetry breaking, coupling management, and localized modes in dual-core discrete nonlinear-Schr\"{o}dinger lattices

We introduce a system of two linearly coupled discrete nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations (DNLSEs), with the coupling constant subject to a rapid temporal modulation. The model can be realized in bimodal Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). Using an averaging procedure based on the multiscale method, we derive a system of averaged (autonomous) equations, which take the form of coupled DNLSEs with additional nonlinear coupling terms of the four-wave-mixing type. We identify stability regions for fundamental onsite discrete symmetric solitons (single-site modes with equal norms in both components), as well as for two-site in-phase and twisted modes, the in-phase ones being completely unstable. The symmetry-breaking bifurcation, which destabilizes the fundamental symmetric solitons and gives rise to their asymmetric counterparts, is investigated too. It is demonstrated that the averaged equations provide a good approximation in all the cases. In particular, the symmetry-breaking bifurcation, which is of the pitchfork type in the framework of the averaged equations, corresponds to a Hopf bifurcation in terms of the original system.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Stability of Discrete Solitons in the Presence of Parametric Driving

In this brief report, we consider parametrically driven bright solitons in the vicinity of the anti-continuum limit. We illustrate the mechanism through which these solitons become unstable due to the collision of the phase mode with the continuous spectrum, or eigenvelues bifurcating thereof. We show how this mechanism typically leads to complete destruction of the bright solitary wave.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Fluxon analogues and dark solitons in linearly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

Two effectively one-dimensional parallel coupled Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of external potentials are studied. The system is modelled by linearly coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations. In particular, grey-soliton-like solutions representing analogues of superconducting Josephson fluxons as well as coupled dark solitons are discussed. Theoretical approximations based on variational formulations are derived. It is found that the presence of a magnetic trap can destabilize the fluxon analogues. However, stabilization is possible by controlling the effective linear coupling between the condensates.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, The paper is to appear in Journal of Physics

Dark Solitons in Discrete Lattices: Saturable versus Cubic Nonlinearities

In the present work, we study dark solitons in dynamical lattices with the saturable nonlinearity and compare them with those in lattices with the cubic nonlinearity. This comparison has become especially relevant in light of recent experimental developments in the former context. The stability properties of the fundamental waves, for both on-site and inter-site modes, are examined analytically and corroborated by numerical results. Furthermore, their dynamical evolution when they are found to be unstable is obtained through appropriately crafted numerical experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

On Kink-Dynamics of Stacked-Josephson Junctions

Dynamics of a fluxon in a stack of coupled long Josephson junctions is studied numericallv. Based on the numerical simulations, we show that the dependence of the propagation velocity c on the external bias current γ is determined by the ratio of the critical currents of thc two junctions J