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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. A » Volume 65 » Issue 2
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Phys. Rev. A 65, 021602(R) (2002) [4 pages]

Modulational instability in Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

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V. V. Konotop1,* and M. Salerno2,†
1Departmento de Física and Centro de Física da Matéria Condensada, Universidade de Lisboa, Complexo Interdisciplinar, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto 2, Lisboa 1649-003, Portugal
2Dipartimento di Fisica “E.R. Caianiello,” Università di Salerno, and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia (INFM), I-84081 Baronissi (SA), Italy

Received 8 May 2001; published 4 January 2002

A self-consistent theory of a cylindrically shaped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) periodically modulated by a laser beam is presented. We show, both analytically and numerically, that modulational instability/stability is the mechanism by which wave functions of soliton type can be generated in a cylindrically shaped BEC subject to a one-dimensional optical lattice. The theory explains why bright solitons can exist in a BEC with positive scattering length and why condensates with negative scattering length can be stable and give rise to dark solitary pulses.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.65.021602
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.65.021602
PACS:
03.75.Fi, 32.80.Pj, 42.50.Vk, 42.65.-k

*Electronic address: konotop@cii.fc.ul.pt

†Electronic address: salerno@sa.infn.it

 
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