Abstract Spin-orbit coupled Bosonic atoms confined in external potentials open up new avenues for quantum-state manipulation and will contribute to the design and exploration of novel quantum devices. Here we consider a quasi-two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate confined in an external harmonic potential, with emphasis on the effects of anisotropic spin-orbit coupling on the equilibrium ground-state structure of such a system. For the cases with spin-orbit coupling solely in x- or y-axis direction, the ground-state structure can develop to the well-known standing wave phase, in which the two components always form an alternative density arrangement. For a two-dimensional anisotropic spin-orbit coupling, the separated lumps first become bend, then form two rows of stripe structure along y direction with further increasing the strength of spin-orbit coupling in x-direction. Furthermore, the distance between these two rows of stripe structure is also investigated in detail.
Abstract Spin-orbit coupled Bosonic atoms confined in external potentials open up new avenues for quantum-state manipulation and will contribute to the design and exploration of novel quantum devices. Here we consider a quasi-two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate confined in an external harmonic potential, with emphasis on the effects of anisotropic spin-orbit coupling on the equilibrium ground-state structure of such a system. For the cases with spin-orbit coupling solely in x- or y-axis direction, the ground-state structure can develop to the well-known standing wave phase, in which the two components always form an alternative density arrangement. For a two-dimensional anisotropic spin-orbit coupling, the separated lumps first become bend, then form two rows of stripe structure along y direction with further increasing the strength of spin-orbit coupling in x-direction. Furthermore, the distance between these two rows of stripe structure is also investigated in detail.
Spin-orbit coupled Bosonic atoms confined in external potentials open up new avenues for quantumstate manipulation and will contribute to the design and exploration of novel quantum devices.Here we consider a quasi-two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate confined in an external harmonic potential,with emphasis on the effects of anisotropic spin-orbit coupling on the equilibrium ground-state structure of such a system.For the cases with spin-orbit coupling solely in x- or y-axis direction,the ground-state structure can develop to the well-known standing wave phase,in which the two components always form an alternative density arrangement.For a two-dimensional anisotropic spin-orbit coupling,the separated lumps first become bend,then form two rows of stripe structure along y direction with further increasing the strength of spin-orbit coupling in x-direction.Furthermore,the distance between these two rows of stripe structure is also investigated in detail.
Abstract We consider an effective two-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensate with some spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and a rotation term in an external harmonic potential. We find the striped state, and analyze the effects of SOC, the external potential, and the rotation frequency/direction on the profile and the stability of the striped state. Without the rotation term, the two spinor components exhibit striped pattern, and the numbers of stripes in the two components are always an odd–even or an even–odd. With the increase of the SOC strength, the number of stripes in both components increases, while the difference of the striped numbers is always one. After adding the rotation term, the profiles of the spinor components change qualitatively, and the change regulation of the striped numbers differs, while the difference of the striped numbers is still one. In addition, we find that the rotation direction only makes the striped state of the two spinor components exchange each other, though the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation directions are inequivalent with the presence of SOC. Such regulation is different from the previous study. And the rotation frequency gives rise to the transition from the striped state to a mixture of the striped state and vortex state. Furthermore, we prove the stability of these states by the evolution and linear stability analysis.
Realization of spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical trap has made it possible to create a variety of topological nontrivial structures, due to the vector character of the order parameter. Recently, artificial spin-orbit coupling in the spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, owing to coupling between the spin and the center-of-mass motion of the atom, provides an unprecedented opportunity to search for novel quantum states. As is well known, the potential well in the Bose-Einstein condensate is adjustable. The toroidal trap is an important model potential because of its simplicity and richness in physics. In particular, the spinor Bose-Einstein condensate under the toroidal trap has brought an ideal platform for studying fascinating properties of a superfluid, such as persistent flow and symmetry-breaking localization. For the case of the spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate, the previous studies of the toroidal trap mainly focused on the two-component or antiferromagnetic case. However, in the presence of a toroidal trap, there remains an open question whether the combined effects of the spin-orbit coupling and rotation can produce previously unknown types of topological excitations in the ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate. In this work, by using quasi two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equations, we study the ground state structure of spin-orbit coupled rotating ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate in the toroidal trap. We concentrate on the effects of the spin-orbit coupling and the rotation on the ground states. The numerical results show that in the presence of a toroidal trap, the ground state structure is displayed as half-skyrmion chain with circular distribution. Adjusting the strength of spin-orbit coupling not only changes the number of half-skyrmion in the system, but also controls the symmetry of half-skyrmion with circular distribution. As the rotation frequency increases, the system undergoes the transitions from the plane wave to the half-skyrmion chain with circular distribution, and eventually developing the half-skyrmion phase of triangular lattice. Next, we examine the effect of spin-independent interaction on spin-orbit coupled rotating spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. As the spin-independent interaction increases, the topological defects in the condensate increase due to the variation of the local magnetic order. We also discuss the influence of well shape on the ground state structure. These topological structures can be detected via the time-of-flight absorption imaging technique. The spin-orbit coupled spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in the toroidal trap is an important quantum platform, which not only opens up a new avenue for exploring the exotic topological structures, but also is crucial for realizing the transitions among different ground states. This work paves the way for futureexploring the topological defects and the corresponding dynamical stability in quantum system subjected to the toroidal trap.
Abstract We investigate the ground-state properties of spin–orbit (SO)-coupled Bose–Einstein condensates confined in a spin-dependent asymmetric potential composed of harmonic and quartic contributions. The combined effect of the two potentials gives rise to an effective spatially inhomogeneous Zeeman field along the z -direction, and the complex competition among SO coupling, interatomic interactions, and this effective field leads to the emergence of nontrivial topological phases and complex spin textures in the system. For weak interatomic interactions, as the SO coupling strength increases, the system undergoes a series of transitions between ground-state phases: from a spin-polarized state, to an Anderson–Toulouse (AT) vortex state, a high-order radial dark soliton state, and finally to a domain structure. For strong interatomic interactions, the condensate evolves from a spin-polarized state to an AT vortex state, and then to a spatially coexisting state of AT and Mermin–Ho vortices, which corresponds to a novel topological excitation in pseudospin space: a skyrmion-dominated texture embedded with circular-hyperbolic antimeron pairs, realizing the coexistence and nesting of multiple topological defects. For sufficiently strong SO coupling, both components eventually evolve into similar multiring-shaped higher-order radial dark soliton states, with the number of soliton rings increasing as the SO coupling strength increases. Our results enrich the ground-state phases and topological excitations of cold atomic systems and provide new insights for exploring and manipulating nontrivial topological excitations in such systems.
Abstract We consider the ground-state properties of a rotating spin-orbit-coupled Bose—Einstein condensate under extreme elongation in a harmonic plus quartic potential. The effects of spin-orbit coupling and rotation on the ground-state vortex structures are investigated. In the absence of spin-orbit coupling, new nucleated vortices gradually form vortex lines and annular vortex structures with the increase of the rotation frequency. In the presence of spin-orbit coupling, part of the vortices arrange in a line and form a stable vortex chain, and the remanent vortices coexist in pairs aside such vortex chain. More specially, the remanent vortices of each component repel each other and form vortex pair for isotropic spin-orbit coupling, while attract each other and locate in the same positions for anisotropic spin-orbit coupling.