We realize a mechanical analogue of the Dicke model, achieved by coupling the spin of individual neutral atoms to their quantized motion in an optical trapping potential. The atomic spin states play the role of the electronic states of the atomic ensemble considered in the Dicke model, and the in-trap motional states of the atoms correspond to the states of the electromagnetic field mode. The coupling between spin and motion is induced by an inherent polarization gradient of the trapping light fields, which leads to a spatially varying vector light shift. We experimentally show that our system reaches the ultra-strong coupling regime, i.e., we obtain a coupling strength which is a significant fraction of the trap frequency. Moreover, with the help of an additional light field, we demonstrate the in-situ tuning of the coupling strength. Beyond its fundamental interest, the demonstrated one-to-one mapping between the physics of optically trapped cold atoms and the Dicke model paves the way for implementing protocols and applications that exploit extreme coupling strengths.
Lithographically fabricated circuit patterns can provide magnetic guides and microtraps for cold neutral atoms. By combining several such structures on the same ceramic substrate, we have realized the first ``atom chips'' that permit complex manipulations of ultracold trapped atoms or de Broglie wavepackets. We show how to design magnetic potentials from simple conductor patterns and we describe an efficient trap loading procedure in detail. Applying the design guide, we describe some new microtrap potentials, including a trap which reaches the Lamb-Dicke regime for rubidium atoms in all three…
Optical microtraps provide a strong spatial confinement for laser-cooled atoms. They can, e.g., be realized with strongly focused trapping light beams or the optical near fields of nano-scale waveguides and photonic nanostructures. Atoms in such traps often experience strongly spatially varying AC Stark shifts which are proportional to the magnetic quantum number of the respective energy level. These inhomogeneous fictitious magnetic fields can cause a displacement of the trapping potential that depends on the Zeeman state. Hitherto, this effect was mainly perceived as detrimental. However, it…
We review our experiments on quantum information processing with neutral atoms in optical lattices and magnetic microtraps. Atoms in an optical lattice in the Mott insulator regime serve as a large qubit register. A spin-dependent lattice is used to split and delocalize the atomic wave functions in a controlled and coherent way over a defined number of lattice sites. This is used to experimentally demonstrate a massively parallel quantum gate array, which allows the creation of a highly entangled many-body cluster state through coherent collisions between atoms on neighbouring lattice sites. I…
We report on the realization and characterization of a magnetic microtrap for ultra cold atoms near a straight superconducting Nb wire with circular cross section. The trapped atoms are used to probe the magnetic field outside the superconducting wire. The Meissner effect shortens the distance between the trap and the wire, reduces the radial magnetic-field gradients and lowers the trap depth. Measurements of the trap position reveal a complete exclusion of the magnetic field from the superconducting wire for temperatures lower than 6K. As the temperature is further increased, the magnetic fie…
We report on a class of configurations of permanent magnets on an atom chip for producing 1D and 2D periodic arrays of magnetic microtraps with non-zero potential minima and variable barrier height for trapping and manipulating ultracold atoms and quantum degenerate gases. We present analytical expressions for the relevant physical quantities and compare them with our numerical results and with some previous numerical calculations. In one of the configurations of permanent magnets, we show how it is possible by changing the angle between the crossed periodic arrays of magnets to go from a 1D a…
The study of dynamical tunnelling in a periodically driven anharmonic potential probes the quantum-classical transition via the experimental control of the effective Planck's constant for the system. In this paper we consider the prospects for observing dynamical tunnelling with ultracold atoms in magnetic microtraps on atom chips. We outline the driven anharmonic potentials that are possible using standard magnetic traps, and find the Floquet spectrum for one of these as a function of the potential strength, modulation, and effective Planck's constant. We develop an integrable approximation t…
We describe the fabrication and construction of a setup for creating lattices of magnetic microtraps for ultracold atoms on an atom chip. The lattice is defined by lithographic patterning of a permanent magnetic film. Patterned magnetic-film atom chips enable a large variety of trapping geometries over a wide range of length scales. We demonstrate an atom chip with a lattice constant of 10 $μ$m, suitable for experiments in quantum information science employing the interaction between atoms in highly-excited Rydberg energy levels. The active trapping region contains lattice regions with square …
We investigate quantum computation with neutral atoms in optical microtraps where the qubit is implemented in the motional states of the atoms, i.e., in the two lowest vibrational states of each trap. The quantum gate operation is performed by adiabatically approaching two traps and allowing tunneling and cold collisions to take place. We demonstrate the capability of this scheme to realize a square-root of swap gate, and address the problem of double occupation and excitation to other unwanted states. We expand the two-particle wavefunction in an orthonormal basis and analyze quantum correlat…
We examine the performance of a quantum phase gate implemented with cold neutral atoms in microtraps, when anharmonic traps are employed and the effects of finite temperature are also taken into account. Both the anharmonicity and the temperature are found to pose limitations to the performance of the quantum gate. We present a quantitative analysis of the problem and show that the phase gate has a high quality performance for the experimental values that are presently or in the near future achievable in the laboratory.
We propose the use of periodic arrays of permanent magnetic films for producing magnetic lattices of microtraps for confining, manipulating and controlling small clouds of ultracold atoms and quantum degenerate gases. Using analytical expressions and numerical calculations we show that periodic arrays of magnetic films can produce one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) magnetic lattices with non-zero potential minima, allowing ultracold atoms to be trapped without losses due to spin flips. In particular, we show that two crossed layers of periodic arrays of parallel rectangular magnets …
We present and analyze a novel concept for blue-detuned evanescent field surface traps for cold neutral atoms based on two-mode interference in ultra-thin optical fibres. When two or more transverse modes with the same frequency co-propagate in the fibre, their different phase velocities cause a stationary interference pattern to establish. Intensity minima of the evanescent field at any distance from the fibre surface can be created and an array of optical microtraps can thus be obtained in the evanescent field. We discuss three possible combinations of the lowest order modes, yielding traps …
We describe an experiment in which Bose-Einstein condensates and cold atom clouds are held by a microscopic magnetic trap near a room temperature metal wire 500 $μ$m in diameter. The ensemble of atoms breaks into fragments when it is brought close to the ceramic-coated aluminum surface of the wire, showing that fragmentation is not peculiar to copper surfaces. The lifetime for atoms to remain in the microtrap is measured over a range of distances down to $27 μ$m from the surface of the metal. We observe the loss of atoms from the microtrap due to spin flips. These are induced by radio-frequenc…
Arrays of trapped atoms are the ideal starting point for developing registers comprising large numbers of physical qubits for storing and processing quantum information. One very promising approach involves neutral atom traps produced on microfabricated devices known as atom chips, as almost arbitrary trap configurations can be realised in a robust and compact package. Until now, however, atom chip experiments have focused on small systems incorporating single or only a few individual traps. Here we report experiments on a two-dimensional array of trapped ultracold atom clouds prepared using a…
Two-dimensional arrays of optical micro-traps created by microoptical elements present a versatile and scalable architecture for neutral atom quantum information processing, quantum simulation, and the manipulation of ultra-cold quantum gases. In this article, we demonstrate advanced capabilities of this approach by introducing novel techniques and functionalities as well as the combined operation of previously separately implemented functions. We introduce piezo-actuator based transport of atom ensembles over distances of more than one trap separation, examine the capabilities of rapid atom t…
To manipulate cold atoms in spatially constrained quantum engineering platforms, we developed a lensless optical system with a $\sim$1 $μ$m resolution and a transverse size of only 225 $μ$m. We use a multimode optical fiber with a high numerical aperture, which directly guides light inside the ultra-high-vacuum system. Spatial light modulators allow us to generate control beams at the in-vacuum fiber end by digital optical phase conjugation. As a demonstration, we use this system to optically transport cold atoms towards the in-vacuum fiber end, to load them in optical microtraps and to re-coo…
The stored ultra-cold neutrons have been developed. A high density ultra-cold neutron gas has been recently produced by using the nuclear spallation method. We investigate the thermodynamic properties of the quantum ultra-cold neutron gas in the Earth's gravitational field. We find that the quantum effects increase temperature dependence of the chemical potential and the internal energy in the low temperature region. The density distribution of quantum ultra-cold neutron gas is modified by the Earth's gravitational field.
Progress on researches in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external fie…
We calculate properties of dipolar interacting ultracold molecules or Rydberg atoms in a semi-synthetic three-dimensional configuration -- one synthetic dimension plus a two-dimensional real space optical lattice or periodic microtrap array -- using the stochastic Green function Quantum Monte Carlo method. Through a calculation of thermodynamic quantities and appropriate correlation functions, along with their finite size scalings, we show that there is a second order transition to a low temperature phase in which two-dimensional `sheets' form in the synthetic dimension of internal rotational …
We present a theoretical treatment of electromagnetically induced transparency and light storage using standing wave coupling fields in a medium comprised of stationary atoms, such as an ultra cold atomic gas or a solid state medium. We show that it is possible to create stationary pulses of light which have a qualitatively different behavior than in the case of a thermal gas medium, offering greater potential for quantum information processing applications.
The strong evanescent field around ultra-thin unclad optical fibers bears a high potential for detecting, trapping, and manipulating cold atoms. Introducing such a fiber into a cold atom cloud, we investigate the interaction of a small number of cold Caesium atoms with the guided fiber mode and with the fiber surface. Using high resolution spectroscopy, we observe and analyze light-induced dipole forces, van der Waals interaction, and a significant enhancement of the spontaneous emission rate of the atoms. The latter can be assigned to the modification of the vacuum modes by the fiber.
A single trapped ion interacting with laser light in a radiofrequency trap is considered by diagonalization of full Hamiltonian of the system in a suitable basis. The energies, eigenvectors, probabilities of finding the atom in the ground state, density matrixes and its entanglement are computed. The study repeated for the Hamiltonian under the rotated wave approximation in the same basis. The results compared in general and in the Lamb-Dick regime for ultra-cold atoms to reveal essential changes in the results.
A model is developed to explain the temperature dependence of the group velocity as observed in the experiments of Hau et al (Nature {\bf397}, 594 (1999)). The group velocity is quite sensitive to the change in the spatial density. The inhomogeneity in the density and its temperature dependence are primarily responsible for the observed behavior.
We discuss a method to select the velocities of ultra-cold atoms with a modified Fabry-Perot type of device made of two effective barriers and a well created, respectively, by blue and red detuned lasers. The laser parameters may be used to select the peak and width of the transmitted velocity window. In particular, lowering the central well provides a peak arbitrarily close to zero velocity having a minimum but finite width. The low-energy atomic scattering off this laser device is parameterized and approximate formulae are found to describe and explain its behaviour.
Ensembles of ultra-cold atoms have been proven to be versatile tools for high precision sensing applications. Here, we present a method for manipulation and readout of the state of trapped clouds of ultra-cold bosonic atoms. In particular, we discuss the creation of coherent and squeezed states of quasiparticles and the coupling of quasiparticle modes through an external cavity field. This enables operations like state swapping and beam splitting which can be applied to realize a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) in frequency space. We present two explicit example applications in sensing: the …
The light--matter-wave Sagnac interferometer based on ultra-slow light proposed recently in (Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 253201 (2004)) is analyzed in detail. In particular the effect of confining potentials is examined and it is shown that the ultra-slow light attains a rotational phase shift equivalent to that of a matter wave, if and only if the coherence transfer from light to atoms associated with slow light is associated with a momentum transfer and if an ultra-cold gas in a ring trap is used. The quantum sensitivity limit of the Sagnac interferometer is determined and the minimum detectable ro…
We report on the observation of collective atomic recoil lasing and superradiant Rayleigh scattering with ultracold and Bose-Einstein condensed atoms in an optical ring cavity. Both phenomena are based on instabilities evoked by the collective interaction of light with cold atomic gases. This publication clarifies the link between the two effects. The observation of superradiant behavior with thermal clouds as hot as several tens of $μ\textrm{K}$ proves that the phenomena are driven by the cooperative dynamics of the atoms, which is strongly enhanced by the presence of the ring cavity.
Quantum optics has been a major driving force behind the rapid experimental developments that have led from the first laser cooling schemes to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of dilute atomic and molecular gases. Not only has it provided experimentalists with the necessary tools to create ultra-cold atomic systems, but it has also provided theorists with a formalism and framework to describe them: many effects now being studied in quantum-degenerate atomic and molecular systems find a very natural explanation in a quantum optics picture. This article briefly reviews three such examples th…
Different laser devices working as ``atom diodes'' or ``one-way barriers'' for ultra-cold atoms have been proposed recently. They transmit ground state level atoms coming from one side, say from the left, but reflect them when they come from the other side. We combine a previous model, consisting of the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) from the ground to an excited state and a state-selective mirror potential, with a localized quenching laser which produces spontaneous decay back to the ground state. This avoids backwards motion, provides more control of the decay process and theref…
The advantages of light and matter-wave Sagnac interferometers -- large area on one hand and high rotational sensitivity per unit area on the other -- can be combined utilizing ultra-slow light in cold atomic gases. While a group-velocity reduction alone does not affect the Sagnac phase shift, the associated momentum transfer from light to atoms generates a coherent matter-wave component which gives rise to a substantially enhanced rotational signal. It is shown that matter-wave sensitivity in a large-area interferometer can be achieved if an optically dense vapor at sub-recoil temperatures is…
We have designed, built, and characterized a high-resolution objective lens that is compatible with an ultra-high vacuum environment. The lens system exploits the principle of the Weierstrass-sphere solid immersion lens to reach a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.92. Tailored to the requirements of optical lattice experiments, the objective lens features a relatively long working distance of 150 micrometers. Our two-lens design is remarkably insensitive to mechanical tolerances in spite of the large NA. Additionally, we demonstrate the application of a tapered optical fiber tip, as used in scannin…
In the past two decades, the revolutionary technologies of creating cold and ultracold molecules have provided cutting-edge experiments for studying the fundamental phenomena of collision physics. To a large degree, the recent explosion of interest in the molecular collisions has been sparked by dramatic progress of experimental capabilities and theoretical methods, which permit molecular collisions to be explored deep in the quantum mechanical limit. Tremendous experimental advances in the field has already been achieved, and the authors, from an experimental perspective, provide a review of …
We solve a finite range two-channel model for three resonant identical bosons. The model provides a minimal description of the various magnetic Feshbach resonances in single species ultra-cold bosonic systems, including off-resonant scattering. We obtain important insights into the interpretation of seminal experiments: the three-body recombination rate measured in Sodium and the Efimov resonances observed in Caesium. This approach quantifies non universal effects appearing for a finite magnetic field detuning.
We identify regular structures in the globally chaotic spectra of an interacting bosonic quantum gas in tilted periodic potentials. The associated eigenstates exhibit strong localization properties on the lattice, and are dynamically robust against external perturbations.
We simulate ultra-cold interacting Bosons in quasi-one-dimensional, incommensurate optical lattices. In the tight-binding limit, these lattices have pseudo-random on-site energies and thus can potentially lead to Anderson localization. We explore the parameter regimes that lead to Anderson localization and investigate the role of repulsive interactions, harmonic confinement and finite temperature. We find that interactions can obscure the exponential localization characteristic of Anderson localization, thus impeding the direct observation of this phenomenon when interactions are present.
We demonstrate a cooperative optical non-linearity caused by dipolar interactions between Rydberg atoms in an ultra-cold atomic ensemble. By coupling a probe transition to the Rydberg state we map the strong dipole-dipole interactions between Rydberg pairs onto the optical field. We characterize the non-linearity as a function of electric field and density, and demonstrate the enhancement of the optical non-linearity due to cooperativity.
We propose a scheme for a single-atom quantum heat engine based on ultra-cold atom technologies. Building on the high degree of control typical of cold atom systems, we demonstrate that three paradigmatic heat engines -- Carnot, Otto and Diesel -- are within reach of state-of-the-art technology, and their performances can be benchmarked experimentally. We discuss the implementation of these engines using realistic parameters and considering the friction effects that limit the maximum obtainable performances in real-life experiments. We further consider the use of super-adiabatic transformation…
We propose a realistic experiment to demonstrate a dynamic Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in ultra-cold atomic gases in two dimensions. With a numerical implementation of the Truncated Wigner Approximation we simulate the time evolution of several correlation functions, which can be measured via matter wave interference. We demonstrate that the relaxational dynamics is well-described by a real-time renormalization group approach, and argue that these experiments can guide the development of a theoretical framework for the understanding of critical dynamics.
We store and control ultra-cold atoms in a new type of trap using magnetic fields of vortices in a high temperature superconducting micro-structure. This is the first time ultra-cold atoms have been trapped in the field of magnetic flux quanta. We generate the attractive trapping potential for the atoms by combining the magnetic field of a superconductor in the remanent state with external homogeneous magnetic fields. We show the control of crucial atom trap characteristics such as an efficient intrinsic loading mechanism, spatial positioning of the trapped atoms and the vortex density in the …
The effects of entanglement and spin-spin collision on the gauge field in ultracold atoms are presented in this paper. Two gauge fields are calculated and discussed. One of the fields comes from space dependent spin-spin collisions in ultra-cold atoms, while another results from the usual Born-Oppenheimer method, which separates the center-of-mass motion from the relative motion in the two-body problem. Adiabatic conditions that lead to the key results of this paper are also presented and discussed. Entanglement shared between the two atoms is shown to affect the atomic motion. In the presence…
We demonstrate clear collective atomic recoil motion in a dilute, momentum-squeezed, ultra-cold degenerate fermion gas by circumventing the effects of Pauli blocking. Although gain from bosonic stimulation is necessarily absent because the quantum gas obeys Fermi-Dirac statistics, collective atomic recoil motion from the underlying wave-mixing process is clearly visible. With a single pump pulse of the proper polarization, we observe two mutually-perpendicular wave-mixing processes occurring simultaneously. Our experiments also indicate that the red-blue pump detuning asymmetry observed with B…
We have measured magnetic trap lifetimes of ultra-cold Rb87 atoms at distances of 5-1000 microns from surfaces of conducting metals with varying resistivity. Good agreement is found with a theoretical model for losses arising from near-field magnetic thermal noise, confirming the complications associated with holding trapped atoms close to conducting surfaces. A dielectric surface (silicon) was found in contrast to be so benign that we are able to evaporatively cool atoms to a Bose-Einstein condensate by using the surface to selectively adsorb higher energy atoms.
Ultra cold fermionic atoms placed in a synthetic magnetic field arrange themselves in Landau levels. We theoretically study the optomechanical interaction between the light field and collective excitations of such fermionic atoms in synthetic magnetic field by placing them in side a Fabry Perot cavity. We derive the effective hamiltonian for particle hole excitations from a filled Landau level using a bosonization technique and obtain an expression for the cavity transmission spectrum. Using this we show that the cavity transmission spectrum demonstrates cold atom analogue of Subnikov de Hass …
We study cold atomic gases with a contact interaction and confined into one-dimension. Crossing the confinement induced resonance the correlation between the bosons increases, and introduces an effective range for the interaction potential. Using the mapping onto the sine-Gordon model and a Hubbard model in the strongly interacting regime allows us to derive the phase diagram in the presence of an optical lattice. We demonstrate the appearance of a phase transition from a Luttinger liquid with algebraic correlations into a crystalline phase with a particle on every second lattice site.
System of a two-flavor mixture of ultra-cold fermions confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap is studied in the frame of the center of mass. We present a numerical method of obtaining energetic spectra in this frame for an arbitrary mass ratio of fermionic species. We identify a specific invariant encoded in many-body correlations which enable one to determine an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian and to label excitations of the center of mass. The tool presented may be particularly useful in experimental analysis of the interparticle interactions which do not affect the center of mass excitati…
We show that the general quantum state of synthetically spin-orbit coupled ultra cold bosonic atom whose condensate was experimentally created recently ( Y. J. Lin {\it et al.}, Nature, {\bf 471}, 83, (2011)), shows entanglement between motional degrees of freedom ( momentum) and internal degrees of freedom (hyperfine spin). We demonstrate the violation of Bell-like inequality (CHSH) for such states that provides a unique opportunity to verify fundamental principle like quantum non-contextuality for commutating observables which are not spatially separated. We analyze in detail the Rabi oscill…
In our previous paper, we have investigated the thermodynamics of the quantum ultra-cold neutron gas trapped in the two-dimensional square-well potential on the Earth's gravitational field. We have pointed out that they have strong dependence on the shape of the trapping potential. In the present paper, we estimate the Fermi energy and the density distribution of the Fermi gas with two-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential, instead of the square-well potential. Then we discuss them in terms of the Fermi energy and the density distribution as compared with both of cases.
The relativistic corrections in the Hamiltonian for a particle in a uniformly rotating frame are discussed. They are shown to be negligible in the case of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) in the Earth's gravity. The effect, on the energy levels of UCN, of the main term due to the Earth's rotation, i.e. the angular-momentum term, is calculated. The energy shift is found proportional to the energy level itself.
The capture of a moving atom by a non-dissipative trap, such as an optical dipole trap, requires the removal of the excessive kinetic energy of the atom. In this article we develop a mechanism to harvest ultra cold atoms from a guided atom beam into an optical dipole trap by removing their directed kinetic energy. We propose a continuous loading scheme where this is accomplished via deceleration by a magnetic potential barrier followed by optical pumping to the energetically lowest Zeeman sublevel. We theoretically investigate the application of this scheme to the transfer of ultra cold chromi…
We study the spectrum of density fluctuations in the ultra-cold gas of neutral atoms, confined in a magneto-optical trap. We determine the corresponding amplitude and spectra of laser light scattered by this medium. We derive an expression for the dynamical structure function, by using a test particle method. We propose to use the collective laser scattering as a diagnostic method for the microscopic properties of the ultra-cold matter. This will also allow us to check on the atomic correlations which are mediated by the collective mean field inside the gas.
We propose a scheme to implement an optical Kagome lattice for ultra-cold atoms with controllable s-wave interactions between nearest neighbor sites and a gauge potential. The atoms occupy three different internal atomic levels with electromagnetically-induced coupling between the levels. We show that by appropriately shifting the triangular lattice potentials, experienced by atoms in different levels, the Kagome lattice can be realized using only two standing waves, generating a highly frustrated quantum system for the atoms.
We report results for reaction and vibrational quenching of the collision D with para-H$_2$($v,j=0$) and ortho-H$_2$($v,j=1$) at cold and ultracold temperatures. We investigate the effect of nuclear spin symmetry for barrier dominated processes ($0\le v\le 4$) and for one barrierless case ($v=5$). We find resonant structures for energies in the range corresponding to 0.01--10 K, which depend on the nuclear spin of H$_2$, arising from contributions of specific partial waves. We discuss the implications on the results in this benchmark system for ultracold chemistry.
We present a method for amplifying a single or scattered impurities immersed in a background gas of ultra cold atoms so that they can be optically imaged and spatially resolved. Our approach relies on a Raman transfer between two stable atomic hyperfine states that is conditioned on the presence of an impurity atom. The amplification is based on the strong interaction among atoms excited to Rydberg states. We perform a detailed analytical study of the performance of the proposed scheme with particular emphasis on the influence of many-body effects.
We investigate an ultra-cold mixture of Bose gases interacting via spin-changing collisions by studying the dynamics of spin fluctuations. The experimental implementation employs $^{23}$Na and $^{7}$Li atoms, which are prepared out of equilibrium across a wide range of initial conditions. We identify three regimes in the dynamics of the system for different initial states: a long-lived metastable regime, an instability range with strong growth of fluctuations, and a fast relaxing regime approaching thermal equilibrium. Theoretical modelling of the data allows us to reconstruct effective potent…
This article presents a review of the current state of the art in the research field of cold and ultracold molecules. It serves as an introduction to the Special Issue of the New Journal of Physics on Cold and Ultracold Molecules and describes new prospects for fundamental research and technological development. Cold and ultracold molecules may revolutionize physical chemistry and few body physics, provide techniques for probing new states of quantum matter, allow for precision measurements of both fundamental and applied interest, and enable quantum simulations of condensed-matter phenomena. …
We discuss the possibility of realizing a non-Hermitian, i.e. an open two-well system of ultra-cold atoms by enclosing it with additional time-dependent wells that serve as particle reservoirs. With the appropriate design of the additional wells PT-symmetric currents can be induced to and from the inner wells, which support stable solutions. We show that interaction in the mean-field limit does not destroy this property. As a first method we use a simplified variational ansatz leading to a discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation. A more accurate and more general variational ansatz is then used…
