English

Nonlinear Band Structure in Bose Einstein Condensates: The Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation with a Kronig-Penney Potential

Other Condensed Matter 2009-11-10 v2 Exactly Solvable and Integrable Systems

Abstract

All Bloch states of the mean field of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a one dimensional lattice of impurities are presented in closed analytic form. The band structure is investigated by analyzing the stationary states of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger, or Gross-Pitaevskii, equation for both repulsive and attractive condensates. The appearance of swallowtails in the bands is examined and interpreted in terms of the condensates superfluid properties. The nonlinear stability properties of the Bloch states are described and the stable regions of the bands and swallowtails are mapped out. We find that the Kronig-Penney potential has the same properties as a sinusoidal potential; Bose-Einstein condensates are trapped in sinusoidal optical lattices. The Kronig-Penney potential has the advantage of being analytically tractable, unlike the sinusoidal potential, and, therefore, serves as a good model for experimental phenomena.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0410347,
  title  = {Nonlinear Band Structure in Bose Einstein Condensates: The Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation with a Kronig-Penney Potential},
  author = {B. T. Seaman and L. D. Carr and M. J. Holland},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0410347},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Version 2. Fixed typos, added reference