Abstract We show that attractive two-dimensional (2D) spinor Bose–Einstein condensates with helicoidal spatially periodic spin–orbit coupling (SOC) support a rich variety of stable fundamental solitons and bound soliton complexes. Such states exist with chemical potentials belonging to the semi-infinite gap in the band spectrum created by the periodically modulated SOC. All these states exist above a certain threshold value of the norm. The chemical potential of fundamental solitons attains the bottom of the lowest band, whose locus is a ring in the space of Bloch momenta, and the radius of the non-monotonous function of the SOC strength. The chemical potential of soliton complexes does not attain the band edge. The complexes are bound states of several out-of-phase fundamental solitons whose centers are placed at local maxima of the SOC-modulation phase. In this sense, the impact of the helicoidal SOC landscape on the solitons is similar to that of a periodic 2D potential. In particular, it can compensate repulsive forces between out-of-phase solitons, making their bound states stable. Extended stability domains are found for complexes built of two and four solitons (dipoles and quadrupoles, respectively). They are typically stable below a critical value of the chemical potential.
Abstract We show that attractive two-dimensional (2D) spinor Bose–Einstein condensates with helicoidal spatially periodic spin–orbit coupling (SOC) support a rich variety of stable fundamental solitons and bound soliton complexes. Such states exist with chemical potentials belonging to the semi-infinite gap in the band spectrum created by the periodically modulated SOC. All these states exist above a certain threshold value of the norm. The chemical potential of fundamental solitons attains the bottom of the lowest band, whose locus is a ring in the space of Bloch momenta, and the radius of the non-monotonous function of the SOC strength. The chemical potential of soliton complexes does not attain the band edge. The complexes are bound states of several out-of-phase fundamental solitons whose centers are placed at local maxima of the SOC-modulation phase. In this sense, the impact of the helicoidal SOC landscape on the solitons is similar to that of a periodic 2D potential. In particular, it can compensate repulsive forces between out-of-phase solitons, making their bound states stable. Extended stability domains are found for complexes built of two and four solitons (dipoles and quadrupoles, respectively). They are typically stable below a critical value of the chemical potential.
We report families of two-dimensional (2D) composite solitons in spinor dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, with two localized components linearly mixed by the spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and the intrinsic nonlinearity represented by the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) between atomic magnetic moments polarized in plane by an external magnetic field. Recently, stable solitons were predicted in the form of semivortices (composites built of coupled fundamental and vortical components) in the 2D system combining the SOC and contact attractive interactions. Replacing the latter by the anisotropic long-range DDI, we demonstrate that, for a fixed norm of the soliton, the system supports a continuous family of stable spatially asymmetric vortex solitons (AVSs), parameterized by an offset of the pivot of the vortical component relative to its fundamental counterpart. The offset is limited by a certain maximum value, while the energy of the AVS practically does not depend on the offset. At small values of the norm, the vortex solitons are subject to a weak oscillatory instability. In the present system, with the Galilean invariance broken by the SOC, the composite solitons are set in motion by a kick the strength of which exceeds a certain depinning value. The kicked solitons feature a negative effective mass, drifting along a spiral trajectory opposite to the direction of the kick. A critical angular velocity, up to which the semivortices may follow rotation of the polarizing magnetic field, is found too.
Solitons are self-trapped modes existing in various nonlinear systems. Creating stable solitons in two- and three-dimensional settings is a challenging goal in various branches of physics. Several methods have been developed theoretically and experimentally to achieve this, but few of them can support stable multi-dimensional solitons in free space. Recently, a new scheme using spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) has been proposed to create stable 2D solitons in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs). This paper reviews recent theoretical progress on creating stable 2D solitons in spinor dipolar BEC with SOC, combined with long-range dipole-dipole interaction (DDI), Zeeman splitting (ZS) and contact nonlinearity, in free space. The continuous family of stable symmetric vortex solitons (SVS), asymmetric vortex solitons (AVS), as well as gap solitons (GS) is found via different settings. Their existence and stability conditions are summarized and discussed in detail. The mobility properties of these types of solitons are also addressed. For SVS, a potential method to manipulate its shape and mobility is investigated. These results are supposed to enrich our understanding of 2D solitons and help create multi-dimensional solitons in experiments.
We study two-dimensional (2D) matter-wave solitons in spinor Bose–Einstein condensates under the action of the spin–orbit coupling and opposite signs of the self- and cross-interactions. Stable 2D two-component solitons of the mixed-mode type are found if the cross-interaction between the components is attractive, while the self-interaction is repulsive in each component. Stable solitons of the semi-vortex type are formed in the opposite case, under the action of competing self-attraction and cross-repulsion. The solitons exist with the total norm taking values below a collapse threshold. Further, in the case of the repulsive self-interaction and inter-component attraction, stable 2D self-trapped modes, which may be considered as quantum droplets (QDs), are created if the beyond-mean-field Lee–Huang–Yang terms are added to the self-repulsion in the underlying system of coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations. Stable QDs of the mixed-mode type, of a large size with an anisotropic density profile, exist with arbitrarily large values of the norm, as the Lee–Huang–Yang terms eliminate the collapse. The effect of the spin–orbit coupling term on characteristics of the QDs is systematically studied. We also address the existence and stability of QDs in the case of SOC with mixed Rashba and Dresselhaus terms, which makes the density profile of the QD more isotropic. Thus, QDs in the spin-orbit-coupled binary Bose–Einstein condensate are for the first time studied in the present work.
Abstract Vortex solitons (VSs) in spin-orbit-coupled (SOC) quantum gases are of fundamental interest due to their unique topological properties and potential applications in quantum information processing. We investigate the existence and stability of two-dimensional (2D) matter-wave VSs in a binary SOC Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of Rydberg atoms, confined by a radially periodic potential. By employing the imaginary-time integration method, we numerically demonstrate the formation of three distinct types of matter-wave soliton pairs, ring-shaped, necklace-shaped, and crescent-shaped, carrying topological charges up to 7. Their stability is systematically verified through temporal evolution and fidelity analysis. The SOC strength is found to be critical for supporting VSs with high topological charges. However, the presence of the external potential imposes a constraint on the SOC interaction, suppressing the generation of VSs with very high charges. A repulsive Rydberg-Rydberg interaction is identified as essential for balancing the diffraction and the SOC effect. Furthermore, the phase structures of these solitons exhibit a periodic modulation in the radial direction, inherited from the external potential. This study provides significant promise for applications in quantum information processing and the design of novel topological devices.
This study explores the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with helicoidal spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and Rabi coupling, confined under a two-dimensional harmonic potential. The relationship between helicoidal SOC, non-linear interactions along with Rabi coupling and their impact on the stability and non linear trapped modes of the condensate is analyzed using a coupled Gross-Pitaevski (GP) framework. A linearized GP equation is used to investigate modulation instability (MI), demonstrating the impact of strong coupling effects and anisotropic confinement on the instability dynamics. It has been shown that the modulation instability in the condensate is predominantly governed by the competition between the attractive and repulsive mean-field interactions. Additionally, stability regimes are altered by the harmonic confinement, enhancing their susceptibility to SOC-induced asymmetry and intra- and intercomponent interactions. These results shed light on the possibility for unique quantum phases and emergent characteristics of helicoidal SOC-driven condensates.
The spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) provides an ideal platform for observing and manipulating topological structures, which arise from the spin degrees of freedom and the superfluid nature of the gas. Artificial helicoidal spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the spinor BEC, owing to the spatially varying gauge potential and the more flexible adjustability, provides possibly an unprecedented opportunity to search for novel quantum states. The previous studies of the BEC with helicoidal SOC mainly focus on the two-component case. However, there are few reports on the studies of helicoidal SOC in three-component BEC. Especially considering one-dimensional three-component BEC, whether the helicoidal SOC can generate previously unknown types of topological excitations and phase diagrams is still an unsolved problem. In this work, by solving quasi one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equations, we study the ground state structure of one-dimensional helicoidal spin-orbit coupled three-component BEC. The numerical results show that the helicoidal SOC can induce a phase separation among the components in ferromagnetic BEC. Through numerical calculations of the system, a phase diagram is obtained as a function of the helicoidal SOC strength and gauge potential, which shows the critical conditions for phase separation and phase miscibility in ferromagnetic BEC. Meanwhile, we also study the influences of the helicoidal SOC and the gauge potential on the antiferromagnetic BEC ground state. The numerical results show that the helicoidal SOC is beneficial for the miscibility in antiferromagnetic BEC. When the helicoidal SOC strength or gauge potential increases, the ground state of antiferromagnetic BEC exhibits a stripe soliton structure. Adjusting the strength of helicoidal SOC or gauge potential can control the transitions between a plane-wave soliton and a stripe soliton. In addition, we show the changes of the particle number density maximum and the number of peaks of stripe solitons for adjusting the helicoidal SOC strength or gauge potential. Our results show that helicoidal spin-orbit coupled BEC not only provides a controlled platform for investigating the exotic topological structures, but also is crucial for the transitions between different ground states. This work paves the way for exploring the topological defect and the corresponding dynamical stability in quantum systems subjected to the helicoidal SOC in future.