Meron Ground State of Rashba Spin-Orbit-Coupled Dipolar Bosons
Ryan Wilson, Brandon Anderson, Charles W. Clark
We study the effects of dipolar interactions on a Bose-Einstein condensate with synthetically generated Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The dipolar interaction we consider includes terms that couple spin and orbital angular momentum in a way perfectly congruent with the single-particle Rashba coupling. We show that this internal spin-orbit coupling plays a crucial role in the rich ground-state phase diagram of the trapped condensate. In particular, we predict the emergence of a thermodynamically stable ground state with a meron spin configuration.
arXiv:1306.6610•Physical Review Letters•Oct 30, 2013•86 citations