Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices

Abstract

Coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations (CNLS) with an external elliptic function potential model a quasi one-dimensional interacting two-component Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a standing light wave. New families of stationary solutions of the CNLS with a periodic potential are presented and their stability studied by direct numerical simulations. Some of these solutions allow reduction to Manakov system. From a physical point of view these solutions can be interpreted as exact Bloch states at the edge of the Brillouin zone. Some of them are stable while others are found to be unstable against modulations of long wavelength. The solutions which are modulationally unstable are shown to lead to the formation of localized ground states of the coupled BEC system.