Coupled-Mode Equations and Gap Solitons in a Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Elliptic Problem with a Separable Periodic Potential

We address a two-dimensional nonlinear elliptic problem with a finite-amplitude periodic potential. For a class of separable symmetric potentials, we study the bifurcation of the first band gap in the spectrum of the linear Schrödinger operator and the relevant coupled-mode equations to describe this bifurcation. The coupled-mode equations are derived by the rigorous analysis based on the Fourier–Bloch decomposition and the implicit function theorem in the space of bounded continuous functions vanishing at infinity. Persistence of reversible localized solutions, called gap solitons, beyond the coupled-mode equations is proved under a nondegeneracy assumption on the kernel of the linearization operator. Various branches of reversible localized solutions are classified numerically in the framework of the coupled-mode equations and convergence of the approximation error is verified. Error estimates on the time-dependent solutions of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation approximated by solutions of the coupled-mode equations are obtained for a finite-time interval.