We present a comprehensive analysis of the nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling. We find characteristic scaling or power laws for the critical behavior that occurs as the nonlinear parameter equals to the gap of avoided crossing energy levels. For the nonlinear parameter larger than the energy gap, a closed-form solution is derived for the nonlinear tunneling probability, which is shown to be a good approximation to the exact solution for a wide range of the parameters. Finally, we discuss the experimental realization of the nonlinear model and possible observation of the scaling or power laws using a Bose-Einstein condensate in an accelerating optical lattice.

• Received 7 February 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.023404