Enhanced Quantum Reflection of Matter-Wave Solitons

Matter-wave bright solitons are predicted to reflect from a purely attractive potential well although they are macroscopic objects with classical particle-like properties. The non-classical reflection occurs at small velocities and a pronounced switching to almost perfect transmission above a critical velocity is found, caused by nonlinear mean-field interactions. Full numerical results from the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation are complimented by a two-mode variational calculation to explain the predicted effect, which can be used for velocity filtering of solitons. The experimental realization with laser-induced potentials or two-component Bose-Einstein condensates is suggested.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Europhys. Let

Fano blockade by a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice

We study the transport of atoms across a localized Bose-Einstein condensate in a one-dimensional optical lattice. For atoms scattering off the condensate we predict total reflection as well as full transmission for certain parameter values on the basis of an exactly solvable model. The findings of analytical and numerical calculations are interpreted by a tunable Fano-like resonance and may lead to interesting applications for blocking and filtering atom beams.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (fig4 was resized for arXiv

Traveling Dark Solitons in Superfluid Fermi Gases

Families of dark solitons exist in superfluid Fermi gases. The energy-velocity dispersion and number of depleted particles completely determines the dynamics of dark solitons on a slowly-varying background density. For the unitary Fermi gas we determine these relations from general scaling arguments and conservation of local particle number. We find solitons to oscillate sinusoidally at the trap frequency reduced by a factor of $1/\sqrt{3}$. Numerical integration of the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation determines spatial profiles and soliton dispersion relations across the BEC-BCS crossover and proves consistent with the scaling relations at unitarity.Comment: Small changes in response to referee's comments; fig 1 revised and refs updated. Cross listed to nucl-th due to interest in the unitary Fermi ga