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Spin-orbit coupled spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

Chunji Wang
Chao Gao
Chao-Ming Jian
Hui Zhai

Abstract

An effective spin-orbit coupling can be generated in a cold atom system by engineering atom-light interactions. In this Letter we study spin-1/2 and spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and find that the condensate wave function will develop nontrivial structures. From numerical simulation we have identified two different phases. In one phase the ground state is a single plane wave, and often we find the system splits into domains and an array of vortices plays the role of a domain wall. In this phase, time-reversal symmetry is broken. In the other phase the condensate wave function is a standing wave, and it forms a spin stripe. The transition between them is driven by interactions between bosons. We also provide an analytical understanding of these results and determine the transition point between the two phases. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

Date Published

Journal

Physical Review Letters

Volume

105

Issue

16

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957917266&doi=10.1103%2fPhysRevLett.105.160403&partnerID=40&md5=fcda50c23130898f39f848ae48d657f4

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.160403

Group (Lab)

Chao-Ming Jian Group

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