Stability and decay of Bloch oscillations in the presence of time-dependent nonlinearity

Abstract

We consider Bloch oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a time-modulated s-wave scattering length. Generically, the interaction leads to dephasing and decay of the wave packet. Based on a cyclic-time argument, we find-in addition to the linear Bloch oscillation and a rigid soliton solution-an infinite family of modulations that lead to a periodic time evolution of the wave packet. In order to quantitatively describe the dynamics of Bloch oscillations in the presence of time-modulated interactions, we employ two complementary methods: collective coordinates and the linear stability analysis of an extended wave packet. We provide instructive examples and address the question of robustness against external perturbations. © 2011 American Physical Society.