Tunnelling Dynamics of Bose--Einstein Condensates in a Five-Well Trap

We develop a five-well model for describing the tunnelling dynamics of Bose--Einstein condensates (BECs) trapped in 2D optical lattices. The tunnelling dynamics of BECs in this five-well model are investigated both analytically and numerically. We focus on the self-trapped states and the difference of the tunnelling dynamics among two-well, three-well and five-well systems. The criterions for the self-trapped states and the phase diagrams of the five trapped BECs in zero-phase mode and π-phase mode are obtained. We find that the criterions and the phase diagrams are largely modified by the dimension of the system and the phase difference between wells. The five-well model is a good model and can give us an insight into the tunnelling dynamics of BECs trapped in 2D optical lattices.