  The scattering of 1D matter wave bright solitons on attractive potentials
enables one to populate bound states, a feature impossible with noninteracting
wave packets. Compared to noninteracting states, the populated states are
renormalized by the attractive interactions between atoms and keep the same
topology. This renormalization can even transform a virtual state into a bound
state. By switching off adiabatically the interactions, the trapped wave
packets converge towards the true noninteracting bound states. Our numerical
studies show how such scattering experiments can reveal and characterize the
surface states of a periodic structure whose translational invariance has been
broken. We provide evidence that the corresponding 3D regime should be
accessible with current techniques.
