  Inter-band Rabi oscillations of gap soliton matter waves induced by time
dependent periodic forces in combined linear and nonlinear optical lattices are
for the first time demonstrated. It is shown that under suitable conditions
these oscillations can become long-lived. By switching off the external force
at proper time it is possible to create either pure (stationary macroscopically
populated) gap soliton states or linear combination of two gap solitons with
appreciably long life-time.
