Bloch oscillations and accelerated Bose–Einstein condensates in an optical lattice

Highlights: • Discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model for accelerated BECs in optical lattices. • Numerical computation of wavefunction BECs dynamics. • Correlation between nonlinearity and the oscillating period of the BEC's center of mass. • Discussion of the validity of the Bloch Theorem for accelerated BECs in an optical lattice. - Abstract: We discuss the method for the measurement of the gravity acceleration g by means of Bloch oscillations of an accelerated BEC in an optical lattice. This method has a theoretical critical point due to the fact that the period of the Bloch oscillations depends, in principle, on the initial shape of the BEC wavepacket. Here, by making use of the nearest-neighbor model for the numerical analysis of the BEC wavefunction, we show that in real experiments the period of the Bloch oscillations does not really depend on the shape of the initial wavepacket and that the relative uncertainty, due to the fact that the initial shape of the wavepacket may be asymmetrical, is smaller than the one due to experimental errors. Furthermore, we also show that the relation between the oscillation period and the scattering length of the BEC's atoms is linear; this fact suggests us a new experimental procedure for the measurement of the scattering length of atoms.