We overview our recent theoretical studies on nonlinear atom optics of the Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) loaded into optical lattices. In particular, we describe the band-gap spectrum and nonlinear localization of BECs in one- and two-dimensional optical lattices. We discuss the structure and stability properties of spatially localized states (matter-wave solitons) in 1D lattices, as well as trivial and vortex-like bound states of 2D gap solitons. To highlight similarities between the behavior of coherent light and matter waves in periodic potentials, we draw useful parallels with the physics of coherent light waves in nonlinear photonic crystals and optically-induced photonic lattices.
We analyze the existence and stability of spatially extended (Bloch-type) and localized states of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded into an optical lattice. In the framework of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a periodic potential, we study the band-gap structure of the matter-wave spectrum in both the linear and nonlinear regimes. We demonstrate the existence of families of spatially localized matter-wave gap solitons, and analyze their stability in different band gaps, for both repulsive and attractive atomic interactions.
Within the framework of a mean-field description, we investigate atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, with attraction between atoms, under the action of a strong transverse confinement and periodic [optical-lattice (OL)] axial potential. Using a combination of the variational approximation, one-dimensional (1D) nonpolynomial Schr\"odinger equation, and direct numerical solutions of the underlying 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we show that the ground state of the condensate is a soliton belonging to the semi-infinite band gap of the periodic potential. The soliton may be confined to a single cell of the lattice or extended to several cells, depending on the effective self-attraction strength
g (which is proportional to the number of atoms bound in the soliton) and depth of the potential,
V0, the increase of
V0 leading to strong compression of the soliton. We demonstrate that the OL is an effective tool to control the soliton's shape. It is found that, due to the 3D character of the underlying setting, the ground-state soliton collapses at a critical value of the strength,
g=gc, which gradually decreases with the increase of
V0; under typical experimental conditions, the corresponding maximum number of
7Li atoms in the soliton,
Nmax, ranges between 8000 and 4000. Examples of stable multipeaked solitons are also found in the first finite band gap of the lattice spectrum. The respective critical value
gc again slowly decreases with the increase of
V0, corresponding to ${N}_{\mathrm{max}}\ensuremath{\simeq}5000$.