Localized modes of binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates in nonlinear optical lattices

The properties of the localized states of a two component Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a nonlinear periodic potential [nonlinear optical lattice] are investigated. We reveal the existence of new types of solitons and study their stability by means of analytical and numerical approaches. The symmetry properties of the localized states with respect to the NOL are also investigated. We show that nonlinear optical lattices allow the existence of bright soliton modes with equal symmetry in both components, bright localized modes of mixed symmetry type, as well as, dark-bright bound states and bright modes on periodic backgrounds. In spite of the quasi 1D nature of the problem, the fundamental symmetric localized modes undergo a delocalizing transition when the strength of the nonlinear optical lattice is varied. This transition is associated with the existence of an unstable solution, which exhibits a shrinking (decaying) behavior for slightly overcritical (undercritical) variations in the number of atoms.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Dark soliton oscillations in Bose-Einstein condensates with multi-body interactions

We consider the dynamics of dark matter solitons moving through non-uniform cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensates described by the mean field Gross-Pitaevskii equation with generalized nonlinearities, in the case when the condition for the modulation stability of the Bose-Einstein condensate is fulfilled. The analytical expression for the frequency of the oscillations of a deep dark soliton is derived for nonlinearities which are arbitrary functions of the density, while specific results are discussed for the physically relevant case of a cubic-quintic nonlinearity modeling two- and three-body interactions, respectively. In contrast to the cubic Gross-Pitaevskii equation for which the frequencies of the oscillations are known to be independent of background density and interaction strengths, we find that in the presence of a cubic-quintic nonlinearity an explicit dependence of the oscillations frequency on the above quantities appears. This dependence gives rise to the possibility of measuring these quantities directly from the dark soliton dynamics, or to manage the oscillation via the changes of the scattering lengths by means of Feshbach resonance. A comparison between analytical results and direct numerical simulations of the cubic-quintic Gross-Pitaevskii equation shows good agreement which confirms the validity of our approach.Comment: submitted in J. Phys.

Matter wave quantum dots (anti-dots) in ultracold atomic Bose-Fermi mixtures

The properties of ultracold atomic Bose-Fermi mixtures in external potentials are investigated and the existence of gap solitons of Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices demonstrated. Using a self-consistent approach we compute the energy spectrum and show that gap solitons can be viewed as matter wave realizations of quantum dots (anti-dots) with the bosonic density playing the role of trapping (expulsive) potential for the fermions. The fermionic states trapped in the condensate are shown to be at the bottom of the Fermi sea and therefore well protected from thermal decoherence. Energy levels, filling factors and parameters dependence of gap soliton quantum dots are also calculated both numerically and analytically.Comment: Extended version of talk given at the SOLIBEC conference, Almagro, Spain, 8-12 February 2005. To be published on Phys.Rev.

The Hubbard model on a complete graph: Exact Analytical results

We derive the analytical expression of the ground state of the Hubbard model with unconstrained hopping at half filling and for arbitrary lattice sites.Comment: Email:[email protected]

Delocalizing transition of multidimensional solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates

Critical behavior of solitonic waveforms of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices (OL) has been studied in the framework of continuous mean-field equation. In 2D and 3D OLs bright matter-wave solitons undergo abrupt delocalization as the strength of the OL is decreased below some critical value. Similar delocalizing transition happens when the coefficient of nonlinearity crosses the critical value. Contrarily, bright solitons in 1D OLs retain their integrity over the whole range of parameter variations. The interpretation of the phenomenon in terms of quantum bound states in the effective potential is proposed.Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Domain walls and bubble-droplets in immiscible binary Bose gases

The existence and stability of domain walls (DWs) and bubble-droplet (BD) states in binary mixtures of quasi-one-dimensional ultracold Bose gases with inter- and intra-species repulsive interactions is considered. Previously, DWs were studied by means of coupled systems of Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPEs) with cubic terms, which model immiscible binary Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). We address immiscible BECs with two- and three-body repulsive interactions, as well as binary Tonks--Girardeau (TG) gases, using systems of GPEs with cubic and quintic nonlinearities for the binary BEC, and coupled nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations with quintic terms for the TG gases. Exact DW\ solutions are found for the symmetric BEC mixture, with equal intra-species scattering lengths. Stable asymmetric DWs in the BEC mixtures with dissimilar interactions in the two components, as well as of symmetric and asymmetric DWs in the binary TG gas, are found by means of numerical and approximate analytical methods. In the BEC system, DWs can be easily put in motion by phase imprinting. Combining a DW and anti-DW on a ring, we construct BD states for both the BEC and TG models. These consist of a dark soliton in one component (the "bubble"), and a bright soliton (the "droplet") in the other. In the BEC system, these composite states are mobile too.Comment: Phys. Rev. A, in pres

Landau-Zener Tunneling of Bose-Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice

A theory of the non-symmetric Landau-Zener tunneling of Bose-Einstein condensates in deep optical lattices is presented. It is shown that periodic exchange of matter between the bands is described by a set of linearly coupled nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations. The key role of the modulational instability in rendering the inter-band transitions irreversible is highlighted.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Quantum-tunneling dynamics of a spin-polarized Fermi gas in a double-well potential

We study the exact dynamics of a one-dimensional spin-polarized gas of fermions in a double-well potential at zero and finite temperature. Despite the system is made of non-interacting fermions, its dynamics can be quite complex, showing strongly aperiodic spatio-temporal patterns during the tunneling. The extension of these results to the case of mixtures of spin-polarized fermions in interaction with self-trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) at zero temperature is considered as well. In this case we show that the fermionic dynamics remains qualitatively similar to the one observed in absence of BEC but with the Rabi frequencies of fermionic excited states explicitly depending on the number of bosons and on the boson-fermion interaction strength. From this, the possibility to control quantum fermionic dynamics by means of Feshbach resonances is suggested.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Mixed symmetry localized modes and breathers in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

We study localized modes in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates embedded in one-dimensional optical lattices. We report a diversity of asymmetric modes and investigate their dynamics. We concentrate on the cases where one of the components is dominant, i.e. has much larger number of atoms than the other one, and where both components have the numbers of atoms of the same order but different symmetries. In the first case we propose a method of systematic obtaining the modes, considering the "small" component as bifurcating from the continuum spectrum. A generalization of this approach combined with the use of the symmetry of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations allows obtaining breather modes, which are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure

Dynamical localization of gap-solitons by time periodic forces

The phenomenon of dynamical localization of matter wave solitons in optical lattices is first demonstrated and the conditions for its existence are discussed. In addition to the trapping linear periodic potential we use a periodic modulation of the nonlinearity in space to eliminate nonexistence regions of gap-solitons in reciprocal space. We show that when this condition is achieved, the observation of dynamical localization in true nonlinear regime becomes possible. The results apply to all systems described by the periodic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, including Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms trapped in optical lattices and arrays of waveguides or photonic crystals in nonlinear optics.Comment: accepted for Europhysics Letter