Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1411.7813 · New Journal of Physics

Position-dependent spin–orbit coupling for ultracold atoms

Shih-Wei Su, S-C Gou, I-Kang Liu, Ian B. Spielman, Luis Santos, A. Acus, Algirdas Mekys, Julius Ruseckas, Gediminas Juzeliūnas

Published Mar 31, 2015• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We theoretically explore atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin–orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an environment where the detuning from resonance depends on position. The resulting spin–orbit coupled BEC (SOBEC) phase separates into domains, each of which contain density modulations—stripes—aligned either along the x or y direction. In each domain, the stripe orientation is determined by the sign of the local detuning. When these stripes have mismatched spatial periods along domain boundaries, non-trivial topological spin textures form at the interface, including skyrmions-like spin vortices and anti-vortices. In contrast to vortices present in conventional rotating BECs, these spin-vortices are stable topological defects that are not present in the corresponding homogenous stripe-phase SOBECs.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/17/3/033045

Related papers

Position-dependent spin-orbit coupling for ultracold atoms

SW Su, SC Gou, I-Kang Liu +6 more

We theoretically explore atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin-orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an environment where the detuning from resonance depends on position. The resulting spin-orbit coupled BEC phase-separates into domains, each of which contain density modulations - stripes - aligned either along the x or y direction. In each domain, the stripe orientation is determined by the sign of the local detuning. When these stripes have mismatched spatial periods along domain boundaries, non-trivial topological spin textures form at the interface, including skyrmions-like spin vortices and anti-vortices. In contrast to vortices present in conventional rotating BECs, these spin-vortices are stable topological defects that are not present in the corresponding homogenous stripe-phase spin-orbit coupled BECs.

•Mar 31, 2015•0 citations

Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling in bilayer Bose-Einstein condensates

Shih-Wei Su, Shih-Chuan Gou, Qing‐Feng Sun +5 more

We explore a way of producing the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold atoms by using a two-component (spinor) atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined in a bilayer geometry. The SOC of the Rashba type is created if the atoms pick up a $\ensuremath{\pi}$ phase after completing a cyclic transition between four combined spin-layer states composed of two spin and two layer states. The cyclic coupling of the spin-layer states is carried out by combining an intralayer Raman coupling and an interlayer laser assisted tunneling. We theoretically determine the ground-state phases of the spin-orbit-coupled BEC for various strengths of the atom-atom interaction and the laser-assisted coupling. It is shown that the bilayer scheme provides a diverse ground-state phase diagram. In an intermediate range of the atom-light coupling two interlacing lattices of half-skyrmions and half-antiskyrmions are spontaneously created. In the strong-coupling regime, where the SOC of the Rashba type is formed, the ground state represents plane-wave or standing-wave phases depending on the interaction between the atoms. A variational analysis is shown to be in good agreement with the numerical results.

arXiv:1603.09043•Physical Review A•May 31, 2016•22 citations

Spin-orbit coupling manipulating composite topological spin textures in atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates

Chaofei Liu, Gediminas Juzeliūnas, W. M. Liu

Atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) offer brand new opportunities to revolutionize quantum gases and probe the variation of fundamental constants with unprecedented sensitivity. The recent realization of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in BECs provides a new platform for exploring completely new phenomena unrealizable elsewhere. In this study, we find a way of creating a Rashba-Dresselhaus SOC in atomic-molecular BECs by combining the spin-dependent photoassociation and Raman coupling, which can control the formation and distribution of a different type of topological excitation---carbon-dioxide-like skyrmion. This skyrmion is formed by two half-skyrmions of molecular BECs coupling with one skyrmion of atomic BECs, where the two half-skyrmions locate at both sides of one skyrmion. Carbon-dioxide-like skyrmion can be detected by measuring the vortices structures using the time-of-flight absorption imaging technique in real experiments. Furthermore, we find that SOC can effectively change the occurrence of the Chern number in $k$ space, which causes the creation of topological spin textures from some separated carbon-dioxide-like monomers each with topological charge $\ensuremath{-}2$ to a polymer chain of the skyrmions. This work helps in creating dual SOC atomic-molecular BECs and opens avenues to manipulate topological excitations.

Physical Review A•Feb 24, 2017•17 citations

Topological defects in rotating spin–orbit-coupled dipolar spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates

Ning Su, Qingbo Wang, Jinguo Hu +2 more

Abstract We consider the topological defects and spin structures of spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates with spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and dipole–dipole interaction (DDI) in a rotating harmonic plus quartic trap. The combined effects of SOC, DDI and rotation on the ground-state phases of the system are analyzed. Our results show that for fixed rotation frequency structural phase transitions can be achieved by adjusting the magnitudes of the SOC and DDI. A ground-state phase diagram is given as a function of the SOC and DDI strengths. It is shown that the system exhibits rich quantum phases including vortex string phase with isolated density peaks (DPs), triangular (square) vortex lattice phase with DPs, checkerboard phase, and stripe phase with hidden vortices and antivortices. For given SOC and DDI strengths, the system can display pentagonal vortex lattice with DPs, vortex necklace with DPs, and exotic topological structure composed of multi-layer visible vortex necklaces, a hidden giant vortex and hidden vortex necklaces, depending on the rotation frequency. In addition, the system sustains fascinating novel spin textures and skyrmion excitations, such as an antiskyrmion pair, antiskyrmion-half-antiskyrmion (antiskyrmion–antimeron) cluster, skyrmion–antiskyrmion lattice, skyrmion–antiskyrmion cluster, skyrmion–antiskyrmion–meron–antimeron lattice, double-layer half-antiskyrmion necklaces, and composite giant-antiskyrmion–antimeron necklaces.

arXiv:2010.13576•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Aug 18, 2020•5 citations

Induced position-dependent spin–orbit coupling in atomic Bose–Einstein condensate

Qinzheng Xu, Tengyang Liu, Yi‐Cai Zhang +1 more

In this paper, we study-induced spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in one-dimensional ultracold quantum gases composed of atoms of different species. One species is subjected to an equal combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus SOC generated by Raman transition. The two species interact with each other through spin-independent and spin-exchange contact interactions. The spin-exchange interaction introduces a locking pattern of the momentum and spin degrees of freedom for the species without direct SOC. For small spin-independent interactions, the two species overlap and the induced SOC is effective. For large spin-independent interactions, however, the two species keep separate from each other and the induced SOC is negligible. We propose to generate inhomogeneous SOC by exploiting density engineering technique applied to the directly spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate. When the effective potential is of Gaussian type, the single-particle eigenenergies and eigenstates are calculated by exact diagonalization method. For general cases, mean-field ground states are obtained by numerically searching for the minimum of energy functional. With the density engineering technique, it is possible to produce hybrid structures of plane wave, stripe and/or zero-momentum phases.

International Journal of Modern Physics B•May 22, 2023•0 citations

Vortex states and spin textures of rotating spin–orbit-coupled Bose–Einstein condensates in a toroidal trap

Huan Wang, Linghua Wen, Hui Yang +2 more

Abstract We consider the ground-state properties of Rashba spin–orbit-coupled pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in a rotating two-dimensional (2D) toroidal trap. In the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the increasing rotation frequency enhances the creation of giant vortices for the initially miscible BECs, while it can lead to the formation of semiring density patterns with irregular hidden vortex structures for the initially immiscible BECs. Without rotation, strong 2D isotropic SOC yields a heliciform-stripe phase for the initially immiscible BECs. Combined effects of rotation, SOC, and interatomic interactions on the vortex structures and typical spin textures of the ground state of the system are discussed systematically. In particular, for a fixed rotation frequency above the critical value, the increasing isotropic SOC favors a visible vortex necklace in each component which is accompanied by a hidden giant vortex plus a (several) hidden vortex necklace(s) in the central region. In the case of one-dimensional anisotropic SOC, large SOC strength results in the generation of hidden linear vortex string and the transition from initial component separation (component mixing) to component mixing (component separation). Furthermore, the peculiar spin textures including skyrmion lattice, skyrmion pair and skyrmion string are revealed in this system.

arXiv:1703.01411•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jun 22, 2017•38 citations
We theoretically explore atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin–orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an environment where the detuning from resonance depends on position. The resulting spin–orbit coupled BEC (SOBEC) phase separates into domains, each of which contain density modulations—stripes—aligned either along the x or y direction. In each domain, the stripe orientation is determined by the sign of the local detuning. When these stripes have mismatched spatial periods along domain boundaries, non-trivial topological spin textures form at the interface, including skyrmions-like spin vortices and anti-vortices. In contrast to vortices present in conventional rotating BECs, these spin-vortices are stable topological defects that are not present in the corresponding homogenous stripe-phase SOBECs.
We theoretically explore atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin-orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an environment where the detuning from resonance depends on position. The resulting spin-orbit coupled BEC phase-separates into domains, each of which contain density modulations - stripes - aligned either along the x or y direction. In each domain, the stripe orientation is determined by the sign of the local detuning. When these stripes have mismatched spatial periods along domain boundaries, non-trivial topological spin textures form at the interface, including skyrmions-like spin vortices and anti-vortices. In contrast to vortices present in conventional rotating BECs, these spin-vortices are stable topological defects that are not present in the corresponding homogenous stripe-phase spin-orbit coupled BECs.
We explore a way of producing the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold atoms by using a two-component (spinor) atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined in a bilayer geometry. The SOC of the Rashba type is created if the atoms pick up a $\ensuremath{\pi}$ phase after completing a cyclic transition between four combined spin-layer states composed of two spin and two layer states. The cyclic coupling of the spin-layer states is carried out by combining an intralayer Raman coupling and an interlayer laser assisted tunneling. We theoretically determine the ground-state phases of the spin-orbit-coupled BEC for various strengths of the atom-atom interaction and the laser-assisted coupling. It is shown that the bilayer scheme provides a diverse ground-state phase diagram. In an intermediate range of the atom-light coupling two interlacing lattices of half-skyrmions and half-antiskyrmions are spontaneously created. In the strong-coupling regime, where the SOC of the Rashba type is formed, the ground state represents plane-wave or standing-wave phases depending on the interaction between the atoms. A variational analysis is shown to be in good agreement with the numerical results.
Atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) offer brand new opportunities to revolutionize quantum gases and probe the variation of fundamental constants with unprecedented sensitivity. The recent realization of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in BECs provides a new platform for exploring completely new phenomena unrealizable elsewhere. In this study, we find a way of creating a Rashba-Dresselhaus SOC in atomic-molecular BECs by combining the spin-dependent photoassociation and Raman coupling, which can control the formation and distribution of a different type of topological excitation---carbon-dioxide-like skyrmion. This skyrmion is formed by two half-skyrmions of molecular BECs coupling with one skyrmion of atomic BECs, where the two half-skyrmions locate at both sides of one skyrmion. Carbon-dioxide-like skyrmion can be detected by measuring the vortices structures using the time-of-flight absorption imaging technique in real experiments. Furthermore, we find that SOC can effectively change the occurrence of the Chern number in kkk space, which causes the creation of topological spin textures from some separated carbon-dioxide-like monomers each with topological charge $\ensuremath{-}2$ to a polymer chain of the skyrmions. This work helps in creating dual SOC atomic-molecular BECs and opens avenues to manipulate topological excitations.
Abstract We consider the topological defects and spin structures of spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates with spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and dipole–dipole interaction (DDI) in a rotating harmonic plus quartic trap. The combined effects of SOC, DDI and rotation on the ground-state phases of the system are analyzed. Our results show that for fixed rotation frequency structural phase transitions can be achieved by adjusting the magnitudes of the SOC and DDI. A ground-state phase diagram is given as a function of the SOC and DDI strengths. It is shown that the system exhibits rich quantum phases including vortex string phase with isolated density peaks (DPs), triangular (square) vortex lattice phase with DPs, checkerboard phase, and stripe phase with hidden vortices and antivortices. For given SOC and DDI strengths, the system can display pentagonal vortex lattice with DPs, vortex necklace with DPs, and exotic topological structure composed of multi-layer visible vortex necklaces, a hidden giant vortex and hidden vortex necklaces, depending on the rotation frequency. In addition, the system sustains fascinating novel spin textures and skyrmion excitations, such as an antiskyrmion pair, antiskyrmion-half-antiskyrmion (antiskyrmion–antimeron) cluster, skyrmion–antiskyrmion lattice, skyrmion–antiskyrmion cluster, skyrmion–antiskyrmion–meron–antimeron lattice, double-layer half-antiskyrmion necklaces, and composite giant-antiskyrmion–antimeron necklaces.
In this paper, we study-induced spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in one-dimensional ultracold quantum gases composed of atoms of different species. One species is subjected to an equal combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus SOC generated by Raman transition. The two species interact with each other through spin-independent and spin-exchange contact interactions. The spin-exchange interaction introduces a locking pattern of the momentum and spin degrees of freedom for the species without direct SOC. For small spin-independent interactions, the two species overlap and the induced SOC is effective. For large spin-independent interactions, however, the two species keep separate from each other and the induced SOC is negligible. We propose to generate inhomogeneous SOC by exploiting density engineering technique applied to the directly spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate. When the effective potential is of Gaussian type, the single-particle eigenenergies and eigenstates are calculated by exact diagonalization method. For general cases, mean-field ground states are obtained by numerically searching for the minimum of energy functional. With the density engineering technique, it is possible to produce hybrid structures of plane wave, stripe and/or zero-momentum phases.
Abstract We consider the ground-state properties of Rashba spin–orbit-coupled pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in a rotating two-dimensional (2D) toroidal trap. In the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the increasing rotation frequency enhances the creation of giant vortices for the initially miscible BECs, while it can lead to the formation of semiring density patterns with irregular hidden vortex structures for the initially immiscible BECs. Without rotation, strong 2D isotropic SOC yields a heliciform-stripe phase for the initially immiscible BECs. Combined effects of rotation, SOC, and interatomic interactions on the vortex structures and typical spin textures of the ground state of the system are discussed systematically. In particular, for a fixed rotation frequency above the critical value, the increasing isotropic SOC favors a visible vortex necklace in each component which is accompanied by a hidden giant vortex plus a (several) hidden vortex necklace(s) in the central region. In the case of one-dimensional anisotropic SOC, large SOC strength results in the generation of hidden linear vortex string and the transition from initial component separation (component mixing) to component mixing (component separation). Furthermore, the peculiar spin textures including skyrmion lattice, skyrmion pair and skyrmion string are revealed in this system.