Stabilization of three-dimensional matter-waves solitons in an optical lattice

Abstract

We propose an experimentally relevant scheme to create stable solitons in a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate confined by a one-dimensional optical lattice, using temporal modulation of the scattering length (through ac magnetic field tuned close to the Feshbach resonance). Another physical interpretation is a possibility to create stable 3D "light bullets" in an optical medium with a longitudinal alternating self-focusing/defocusing structure, and periodic modulation of the refractive index in a transverse direction. We develop a variational approximation to identify a stability region in the parametric space, and verify the existence of stable breathing solitons in direct simulations. Both methods reveal that stable solitons may be supported if the average value of the nonlinear coefficient (whose sign corresponds to attraction between atoms) and the lattice's strength exceed well-defined minimum values. Stable localized patterns may feature a multi-cell structure.