Attraction-induced dynamical stability of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a nonlinear lattice

Abstract

We study multiple-period Bloch states of a Bose-Einstein condensate with spatially periodic interatomic interaction. Solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the continuum model, and also using a simplified discrete version of it, we investigate the energy-band structures and the corresponding stability properties. We observe an “attraction-induced dynamical stability” mechanism caused by the localization of the density distribution in the attractive domains of the system and the isolation of these higher-density regions. This makes the superfluid stable near the zone boundary and also enhances the stability of higher-periodic states if the nonlinear interaction strength is sufficiently high. ©2016 American Physical Society