Self-trapping of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

Abstract

The self-trapping phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in optical lattices is studied by numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Our numerical results reproduce the self-trapping that was observed in a recent experiment [Anker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 020403 (2005)]. However, we do not find that the appearance of the steep edges on the boundaries of the wave packet is the critical signal of the self-trapping. More importantly, we discover that the self-trapping breaks down at long evolution times; that is, the self-trapping in optical lattices is only temporary and has a lifetime. This temporariness is caused by the tunneling of atoms at the edge of the BEC wave packet towards outside wells. Our analysis shows that the phenomena observed numerically can all be understood by regarding the optical lattice as a train of double-well potentials.