Hofstadter's butterfly energy spectrum of ultracold fermions on the two-dimensional triangular optical lattice

We study the energy spectrum of ultracold fermionic atoms on the two-dimensional triangular optical lattice subjected to a perpendicular effective magnetic field, which can be realized with laser beams. We derive the generalized Harper's equations and numerically solve them, then we obtain the Hofstadter's butterfly-like energy spectrum, which has a novel fractal structure. The observability of the Hofstadter's butterfly spectrum is also discussed.     

Analytical studies of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in two-dimensional optical lattices

The two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) trapped in 2D optical lattice potential is studied analytically. A new family of stationary exact solutions of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equations with 2D periodic potential are obtained. In particular, the phase diagram of the system in the trigonometric limit is determined analytically according to the nontrivial phase macroscopic wave functions of the condensates.     

Next-nearest-neighbor-tunneling-induced symmetry breaking of Hofstadter's butterfly spectrum for ultracold atoms on the honeycomb lattice

We study the spectrum of ultracold atoms on the honeycomb lattice under a constant effective magnetic field. In the tight-binding approximation, we derived the generalized Harper's equations and numerically calculate the spectrum, which has a fractal structure. For the cases with and without the next-nearest-neighbor tunneling, the graphs of spectra have different symmetries. Comparing the symmetries of the graphs of spectra, we find that next-nearest-neighbor tunneling induces symmetry breaking of the graph of spectrum.     

Light-Induced Hofstadter＇s Butterfly Spectrum of Ultracold Atoms on the Two-Dimensional Kagomé Lattice

We investigate the energy spectrum of ultracold atoms on the two-dimensional Kagomé optical lattice under an effective magnetic field, which can be realized with laser beams. We derive the generalized Harper＇s equations from the Schr？dinger equation. The energy spectrum with a fractal band structure is obtained by numerically solving the generalized Harper＇s equations. We analyze the properties of the Hofstadter＇s butterfly spectrum and discuss its observability.     

Rosen--Zener Transition in a Nonlinear System for Two-Component Bose--Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices

We study the Rosen-Zener transition （RZT） in a nonlinear system for two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices. It is found that the percentage of the components could affect the quantum transition dramatically. For the component with large percentage it is equivalent that the effect of the nonlinearity is stronger, whereas for the component with small percentage the effect is weaker. We also find that the nonlinearity c11 can affect the quantum transition dramatically. This is similar to that reported from Ref. [14]. Compared with one-component systems, however, the effect of the nonlinearity is decreased due to the two components of the BEGs in optical lattices. Furthermore, the effect of the coupling nonlinearity between two components c12 is studied. The component with large percentage is more affected by the nonlinearity than that with small-percentage component.     

Bright solitary waves of trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

Motivated by recent experimental observations, we study theoretically multiple bright solitary waves of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. Through variational and numerical analyses, we determine the threshold for collapse of these states. Under π-phase differences between adjacent waves, we show that the experimental states lie consistently at the threshold for collapse, where the corresponding in-phase states are highly unstable. Following the observation of two long-lived solitary waves in a trap, we perform detailed three-dimensional simulations which confirm that in-phase waves undergo collapse while a π-phase difference preserves the long-lived dynamics and gives excellent quantitative agreement with experiment. Furthermore, intermediate phase differences lead to the growth of population asymmetries between the waves, which ultimately triggers collapse.     

Collapse of triaxial bright solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

We study triaxial bright solitons made of attractive Bose-condensed atoms characterized by the absence of confinement in the longitudinal axial direction but trapped by an anisotropic harmonic potential in the transverse plane. By numerically solving the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation we investigate the effect of the transverse trap anisotropy on the critical interaction strength above which there is the collapse of the condensate. The comparison with previous predictions [A. Gammal, L. Tomio, T. Frederico, Phys. Rev. A 66 (2002) 043619] shows significant differences for large anisotropies.     

Dark soliton interaction of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical lattice

We study the magnetic soliton dynamics of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical lattice which results in an effective Hamiltonian of anisotropic pseudospin chain. An equation of nonlinear Schrödinger type is derived and exact magnetic soliton solutions are obtained analytically by means of Hirota method. Our results show that the critical external field is needed for creating the magnetic soliton in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. The soliton size, velocity and shape frequency can be controlled in practical experiment by adjusting the magnetic field. Moreover, the elastic collision of two solitons is investigated in detail.     

Generation of generalized coherent states with two coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We present a scheme to prepare generalized coherent states in a system with two species of Bose-Einstein condensates. First, within the two-mode approximation, we demonstrate that a Schrödinger cat-like state can be dynamically generated and, by controlling the Josephson-like coupling strength, the number of coherent states in the superposition can be varied. Later, we analyze numerically the dynamics of the whole system when interspecies collisions are inhibited. Variables such as fractional population, Mandel parameter and variances of annihilation and number operators are used to show that the evolved state is entangled and exhibits sub-Poisson statistics.     

Ratchet-induced matter-wave transport and soliton collisions in Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the dynamics of bright matter-wave solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate with negative scattering length under the influence of a time-periodic ratchet potential. The potential is formed by a one-dimensional bichromatic optical lattice which flashes on and off so that the time average of its amplitude vanishes. Due to the broken space and time-reversal symmetries of the potential, the soliton is transported with a nonzero average velocity. By employing the non-dissipative mean-field model for the matter waves, we study the dependence of the transport velocity on the initial state of the soliton and show how the properties of the individual localized states affect the outcome of their collisions. A useful insight into the transport properties is provided by Hamiltonian theory for the mean field, which treats the extended matter-wave excitation as an effective classical particle.     

Quantum field theoretical analysis on unstable behavior of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

We study the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates flowing in optical lattices on the basis of quantum field theory. For such a system, a Bose-Einstein condensate shows an unstable behavior which is called the dynamical instability. The unstable system is characterized by the appearance of modes with complex eigenvalues. Expanding the field operator in terms of excitation modes including complex ones, we attempt to diagonalize the unperturbative Hamiltonian and to find its eigenstates. It turns out that although the unperturbed Hamiltonian is not diagonalizable in the conventional bosonic representation the appropriate choice of physical states leads to a consistent formulation. Then we analyze the dynamics of the system in the regime of the linear response theory. Its numerical results are consistent with those given by the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation.     

Bose-Einstein Condensates in a One-Dimensional Optical Lattice: from Superfluidity to Number-Squeezed States

We study the phase coherence property of Bose-Einstein condensates confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice formed by a standing-wave laser field. The lattice depth is determined using a method of Kapitza-Dirac scattering between a condensate and a short pulse lattice potential. Condensates are then adiabatically loaded into the optical lattice. The phase coherence property of the confined condensates is reflected by the interference patterns of the expanded atomic cloud released from the optical lattice. For weak lattice, nearly all of the atoms stay in a superfluid state. However, as the lattice depth is increased, the phase coherence of the whole condensate sample is gradually lost, which confirms that the sub-condensates in each lattice well have evolved into number-squeezed states.     

Coherence properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical superlattice

We study the effect of a one dimensional optical superlattice on the superfluid properties (superfluid fraction, number squeezing, dynamic structure factor) and the quasi-momentum distribution of the Mott-insulator. We show that due to the secondary lattice, there is a decrease in the superfluid fraction and the number fluctuation. The dynamic structure factor which can be measured by Bragg spectroscopy is also suppressed due to the addition of the secondary lattice. The visibility of the interference pattern (the quasi-momentum distribution) of the Mott-insulator is found to decrease due to the presence of the secondary lattice. Our results have important implications in atom interferometry and quantum computation in optical lattices.     

Dynamical stabilization of self-trapping of two weakly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the effect of an external periodic driving field on the self-trapping of two weakly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates with dissipation. It is shown that the macroscopic self-trapping can be stabilized against dissipation by a high frequency periodic driving field. The parameter ranges for stabilizing self-trapping are found analytically and confirmed numerically.     

Modulating the amplitude of dark soliton by scattering-length management in Bose-Einstein condensates

We present a family of soliton solutions of the quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates with time-dependent scattering length, by developing multiple-scale method combined with truncated Painlevé expansion. Then, by numerical calculating the solutions, it is shown that there exhibit two types of dark solitons—black soliton (the zero minimum amplitude at its center) and gray soliton (the minimum density does not drop to zero) in a repulsive condensate. Furthermore, we propose experimental protocols to realize the exchange between black and gray solitons by varying the scattering length via the Feshbach resonance in currently experimental conditions.     

Stabilities of one-dimensional stationary states of Bose-Einstein condensates

We explore the dynamical stabilities of a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) consisting of fixed N atoms with time-independent external potential. For the stationary states with zero flow density the general solution of the perturbed time evolution equation is constructed, and the stability criterions concerning the initial conditions and system parameters are established. Taking the lattice potential case as an example, the stability and instability regions on the parameter space are found. The results suggest a method for selecting experimental parameters and adjusting initial conditions to suppress the instabilities.     

Spatiotemporal dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in moving optical lattices

Spatiotemporal dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in moving optical lattices have been studied. For a weak lattice potential, the perturbed correction to the heteroclinic orbit in a repulsive system is constructed. We find the boundedness conditions of the perturbed correction contain the Melnikov chaotic criterion predicting the onset of Smale-horseshoe chaos. The effect of the chemical potential on the spatiotemporal dynamics is numerically investigated. It is revealed that the variance of the chemical potential can lead the systems into chaos. Regulating the intensity of the lattice potential can efficiently suppress the chaos resulting from the variance of the chemical potential. And then the effect of the phenomenological dissipation is considered. Numerical calculation reveals that the chaos in the dissipative system can be suppressed by adjusting the chemical potential and the intensity of the lattice potential.     

Matter-wave interference in Bose-Einstein condensates: A dispersive hydrodynamic perspective

The interference pattern generated by the merging interaction of two Bose-Einstein condensates reveals the coherent, quantum wave nature of matter. An asymptotic analysis of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the small dispersion (semiclassical) limit, experimental results, and three-dimensional numerical simulations show that this interference pattern can be interpreted as a modulated soliton train generated by the interaction of two rarefaction waves propagating through the vacuum. The soliton train is shown to emerge from a linear, trigonometric interference pattern and is found by use of the Whitham modulation theory for nonlinear waves. This dispersive hydrodynamic perspective offers a new viewpoint on the mechanism driving matter-wave interference.     

The dynamics and stabilities of Bose-Einstein condensates in deep optical lattices

The dynamics and stabilities of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a deep one-dimensional periodic optical lattices with three-body interactions are investigated. By using the tight-binding approximation, the Bloch and the Bogoliubov excitation stabilities and the dynamics of the BEC wavepacket with the effects of the three-body interactions are studied. The critical conditions for occurrence of the dynamical/Landau instabilities, self-trapping/diffusion/breather of wavepacket, and localized soliton are obtained analytically. The results show that the boundaries of the dynamical instability and Landau instability are modified significantly due to the presence of the three-body interactions. It is also revealed that, the initial wavepacket width, the initial momentum, especially, the strength of the three-body force have strong effect on the critical conditions which are used to describe the dynamics of the wavepacket. It is shown that the regions of self-trapping, diffusion, and breather for BEC wavepacket in the parameter space are modified dramatically by the three-body interactions. The analytical results are confirmed by the direct numerical solutions of the discrete GPE.