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Abstract:
We analyze the nature of self-localization (SL) of Bose-Einstein condensates in one-dimensional optical lattices in the presence of weak local dissipation. SL has recently been observed in several studies based on the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation (DNLS); however, its origin is hitherto an open question. We show that SL is based on a self-trapping crossover in the system. Furthermore, we establish that the origin of the crossover is the Peierls-Nabarro barrier, an energy threshold describing the stability of self-trapped states. Beyond the mean-field description the crossover becomes even sharper, which is also reflected by a sudden change of the coherence of the condensate. While we expect that the crossover can be readily studied in current experiments in deep optical lattices, our results allow for the preparation of robust and long-time coherent quantum states.
