We develop a systematic analytical approach to study the linear and nonlinear solitary excitations of quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in an optical lattice. For the linear case, the Bloch wave in the $n\text{th}$ energy band is a linear superposition of Mathieu’s functions ${\mathrm{ce}}_{n-1}$ and ${\mathrm{se}}_n$; and the Bloch wave in the $n\text{th}$ band gap is a linear superposition of ${\mathrm{ce}}_n$ and ${\mathrm{se}}_n$. For the nonlinear case, only solitons inside the band gaps are likely to be generated and there are two types of solitons—fundamental solitons (which is a localized and stable state) and subfundamental solitons (which is a localized but unstable state). In addition, we find that the pinning position and the amplitude of the fundamental soliton in the lattice can be controlled by adjusting both the lattice depth and spacing. Our numerical results on fundamental solitons are in quantitative agreement with those of the experimental observation [B. Eiermann et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 230401 (2004)]. Furthermore, we predict that a localized gap-soliton train consisting of several fundamental solitons can be realized by increasing the length of the condensate in currently experimental conditions.

• Received 28 August 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.026606