Localization of a Bose-Einstein-condensate vortex in a bichromatic optical lattice

Abstract

By numerical simulation of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation we show that a weakly interacting or noninteracting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) vortex can be localized in a three-dimensional bichromatic quasiperiodic optical-lattice (OL) potential generated by the superposition of two standing-wave polarized laser beams with incommensurate wavelengths. We also study the localization of a (nonrotating) BEC in two and three dimensions by bichromatic OL potentials along orthogonal directions. This is a generalization of the localization of a BEC in a one-dimensional bichromatic OL as studied in a recent experiment [Roati et al., Nature 453, 895 (2008)]. We demonstrate the stability of the localized state by considering its time evolution in the form of a stable breathing oscillation in a slightly altered potential for a large period of time. Finally, we consider the localization of a BEC in a random one-dimensional potential in the form of several identical repulsive spikes arbitrarily distributed in space.