Density-wave patterns in discrete media with local interactions are known to be unstable. We demonstrate that stable double- and triple-period patterns (DPPs and TPPs), with respect to the period of the underlying lattice, exist in media with nonlocal nonlinearity. This is shown in detail for dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, loaded into a deep one-dimensional optical lattice. The DPP and TPP emerge via phase transitions of the second and first kind, respectively. The emerging patterns may be stable if the dipole-dipole interactions are repulsive and sufficiently strong, in comparison with the local repulsive nonlinearity. Within the set of the considered states, the TPPs realize a minimum of the free energy. A vast stability region for the TPPs is found in the parameter space, while the DPP stability region is relatively narrow. The same mechanism may create stable density-wave patterns in other physical media featuring nonlocal interactions. © 2012 American Physical Society.
CITATION STYLE
Maluckov, A., Gligorić, G., Hadievski, L., Malomed, B. A., & Pfau, T. (2012). Stable periodic density waves in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in optical lattices. Physical Review Letters, 108(14). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.140402
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.