Stationary states in a pair of tunnel-coupled two-dimensional condensates with the scattering lengths of opposite sign

Abstract

We study, analytically and numerically, the stationary states in the system of two linearly coupled nonlinear Schr{ö}dinger equations in two spatial dimensions, with the nonlinear interaction coefficients of opposite signs. This system is the two-dimensional analog of the coupled-mode equations for a condensate in the double-well trap [\textit{Physical Review A} \textbf{69}, 033609 (2004)]. In contrast to the one-dimensional case, where the bifurcation from zero leads to stable bright solitons, in two spatial dimensions this bifurcation results in the appearance of unstable soliton solutions (the Townes-type solitons). With the use of a parabolic potential the ground state of the system is stabilized. It corresponds to strongly coupled condensates and is stable with respect to collapse. This is in sharp contrast to the one-dimensional case, where the ground state corresponds to weakly coupled condensates and is unstable. Moreover, the total number of atoms of the stable ground state can be much higher than the collapse threshold for a single two-dimensional condensate with a negative s-wave scattering length.