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 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.
We investigate the ground-state phases and spin textures of spin–orbit-coupled dipolar pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose–Einstein condensates in a rotating two-dimensional toroidal potential. The combined effects of dipole–dipole interaction (DDI), spin–orbit coupling (SOC), rotation, and interatomic interactions on the ground-state structures and topological defects of the system are analyzed systematically. For fixed SOC strength and rotation frequency, we provide a set of phase diagrams as a function of the DDI strength and the ratio between inter- and intra-species interactions. The system can show rich quantum phases including a half-quantum vortex, symmetrical (asymmetrical) phase with quantum droplets (QDs), asymmetrical segregated phase with hidden vortices (ASH phase), annular condensates with giant vortices, triangular (square) vortex lattice with QDs, and criss-cross vortex string lattice, depending on the competition between DDI and contact interaction. For given DDI strength and rotation frequency, the increase of the SOC strength leads to a structural phase transition from an ASH phase to a tetragonal vortex lattice then to a pentagonal vortex lattice and finally to a vortex necklace, which is also demonstrated by the momentum distributions. Without rotation, the interplay of DDI and SOC may result in the formation of a unique trumpet-shaped Bloch domain wall. In addition, the rotation effect is discussed. Furthermore, the system supports exotic topological excitations, such as a half-skyrmion (meron) string, triangular skyrmion lattice, skyrmion–half-skyrmion lattice, skyrmion–meron cluster, skyrmion–meron layered necklace, skyrmion–giant-skyrmion necklace lattice, and half-skyrmion–half-antiskyrmion necklace.
Abstract We investigate the ground-state properties of spin–orbit-coupled pseudo-spin-1/2 dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates in a two-dimensional harmonic trap and an in-plane quadrupole field. The effects of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), dipole–dipole interaction (DDI) and the in-plane quadrupole field on the ground-state structures and spin textures of the system are systematically analyzed and discussed. For fixed SOC and DDI strengths, the system shows a quadrupole stripe phase with a half-quantum vortex, or a quadrupole Thomas–Fermi phase with a half-quantum antivortex for small quadrupole field strength, depending on the ratio between inter- and intraspecies interaction. As the quadrupole field strength enhances, the system realizes a ring mixed phase with a hidden vortex–antivortex cluster rather than an ordinary giant vortex in each component. Of particular interest, when the strengths of DDI and quadrupole field are fixed, strong SOC leads to the formation of criss-crossed vortex string structure. For given SOC and quadrupole field, the system for strong DDI displays a sandwich-like structure, or a special delaminated structure with a prolate antivortex in the spin-up component. In addition, typical spin textures for the ground states of the system are analyzed. It is shown that the system sustains exotic topological structures, such as a hyperbolic spin domain wall, skyrmion-half-antiskyrmion-antiskyrmion lattice, half-skyrmion-skyrmion-half-antiskyrmion lattice, and a drum-shaped antimeron.
We investigate the ground states of spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with spin–orbit coupling in a radially periodic potential by numerically solving the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations. In the radially periodic potential, we first demonstrate that spin–orbit-coupled antiferromagnetic BECs support a multiring petal phase. Polar–core vortex can be observed from phase profiles, which is manifested as circularly symmetric distribution. We further show that spin–orbit coupling can induce multiring soliton structure in ferromagnetic BECs. It is confirmed especially that the wave-function phase of the ring corresponding to uniform distribution satisfies the rotational symmetry, and the wave-function phase of the ring corresponding to partial splitting breaks the rotational symmetry. Adjusting the spin–orbit coupling strength can control the number of petal in antiferromagnetic BECs and the winding numbers of wave-function in ferromagnetic BECs. Finally, we discuss effects of spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions on the ground states.
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.
We present an overview of our recent theoretical studies on the quantum phenomena of the spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates, including the phase diagram, soliton solutions and the formation of the topological spin textures. A brief exploration of the effects of spin-orbit coupling on the ground-state properties is given. We put forward proposals by using the transmission spectra of an optical cavity to probe the quantum ground states: the ferromagnetic and polar phases. Quasi-one-dimension solitons and ring dark solitons are studied. It is predicted that characteristics of the magnetic solitons in optical lattice can be tuned by controlling the long-range light-induced and static magnetic dipoledipole interactions; solutions of single-component magnetic and single-, two-, three-components polar solitons are found; ring dark solitons in spin-1 condensates are predicted to live longer lifetimes than that in their scalar counterparts. In the formation of spin textures, we have considered the theoretical model of a rapidly quenched and fast rotating trapped spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate, whose dynamics can be studied by solving the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equations. Spontaneous generation of nontrivial topological defects, such as the hexagonal lattice skyrmions and square lattice of half-quantized vortices was predicted. In particular, crystallization of merons (half skyrmions) can be generated in the presence of spin-orbit coupling.
Weinvestigate the vortex structures excited by Ioffe–Pritchard magnetic field and Dresselhaus-type spin–orbit coupling in F = 2 ferromagnetic Bose–Einstein condensates. In the weakly interatomic interacting regime, an external magnetic field can generate a polar-core vortex in which the canonical particle current is zero. With the combined effect of spin–orbit coupling and magnetic field, the ground state experiences a transition from polar-core vortex to Mermin–Ho vortex, in which the canonical particle current is anticlockwise. For fixed spin–orbit coupling strengths, the evolution of phase winding, magnetization, and degree of phase separation with magnetic field are studied. Additionally, with further increasing spin–orbit coupling strength, the condensate exhibits symmetrical density domains separated by radial vortex arrays. Our work paves the way to explore exotic topological excitations in high-spin systems.