Subdiffractive solitons of Bose-Einstein condensates in time-dependent optical lattices

Abstract

We study Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in periodically shaken shallow optical lattices, and demonstrate the existence of subdiffractive solitons, analogous to those encountered in periodically blinking lattices [K. Staliunas, R. Herrero, and G. J. de Valcarcel, Phys. Rev. E 73, 065603(R) (2006)]. We also show that solitons in periodically shaken optical lattices radiate weakly into the near-to-resonance modes. For typical experimental conditions, however, the soliton lifetime turns out to be much longer than the typical lifetime of the condensate, therefore the subdiffractive solitons are expected to be observable in periodically shaken shallow optical lattices.