No Arabic abstract
Thanks to their immense purity and controllability, dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates are an exemplar for studying fundamental non-local nonlinear physics. Here we show that a family of fundamental nonlinear waves - the dark solitons - are supported in trapped quasi-one-dimensional dipolar condensates and within reach of current experiments. Remarkably, the oscillation frequency of the soliton is strongly dependent on the atomic interactions, in stark contrast to the non-dipolar case. The failure of a particle analogy, so successful for dark solitons in general, to account for this behaviour implies that these structures are inherently extended and non-particle-like. These highly-sensitive waves may act as mesoscopic probes of the underlying quantum matter field.
We study the family of static and moving dark solitons in quasi-one-dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, exploring their modified form and interactions. The density dip of the soliton acts as a giant anti-dipole which adds a non-local contribution to the conventional local soliton-soliton interaction. We map out the stability diagram as a function of the strength and polarization direction of the atomic dipoles, identifying both roton and phonon instabilities. Away from these instabilities, the solitons collide elastically. Varying the polarization direction relative to the condensate axis enables tuning of this non-local interaction between repulsive and attractive; the latter case supports unusual dark soliton bound states. Remarkably, these bound states are themselves shown to behave like solitons, emerging unscathed from collisions with each other.
We predict the existence of stable fundamental and vortical bright solitons in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with repulsive dipole-dipole interactions (DDI). The condensate is trapped in the 2D plane with the help of the repulsive contact interactions whose local strength grows $sim r^{4}$ from the center to periphery, while dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the self-trapping plane. The confinement in the perpendicular direction is provided by the usual harmonic-oscillator potential. The objective is to extend the recently induced concept of the self-trapping of bright solitons and solitary vortices in the pseudopotential, which is induced by the repulsive local nonlinearity with the strength growing from the center to periphery, to the case when the trapping mechanism competes with the long-range repulsive DDI. Another objective is to extend the analysis for elliptic vortices and solitons in an anisotropic nonlinear pseudopotential. Using the variational approximation (VA) and numerical simulations, we construct families of self-trapped modes with vorticities $ell =0$ (fundamental solitons), $ell =1$, and $ell =2$. The fundamental solitons and vortices with $ell =1$ exist up to respective critical values of the eccentricity of the anisotropic pseudopotential, being stable in the entire existence regions. The vortices with $ell =2$ are stable solely in the isotropic model.
We present a comprehensive analysis of the form and interaction of dipolar bright solitons across the full parameter space afforded by dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing the rich behaviour introduced by the non-local nonlinearity. Working within an effective one-dimensional description, we map out the existence of the soliton solutions and show three collisional regimes: free collisions, bound state formation and soliton fusion. Finally, we examine the solitons in their full three-dimensional form through a variational approach; along with regimes of instability to collapse and runaway expansion, we identify regimes of stability which are accessible to current experiments.
Analytic expressions have been derived for the interaction potential between dipolar bright solitons and the binding energy of a two-soliton molecule. The properties of these localized structures are explored with a focus on their behavior in the weakly bound regime, with a small binding energy. Using the variational approach a coupled system of ordinary differential equations for the parameters of a soliton molecule is obtained for the description of their evolution. Predictions of the model are compared with numerical simulations of the governing nonlocal Gross-Pitaevskii equation and good qualitative agreement between them is demonstrated.
We present experimental results and a systematic theoretical analysis of dark-br ight soliton interactions and multiple-dark-bright soliton complexes in atomic t wo-component Bose-Einstein condensates. We study analytically the interactions b etween two-dark-bright solitons in a homogeneous condensate and, then, extend ou r considerations to the presence of the trap. An effective equation of motion is derived for the dark-bright soliton center and the existence and stability of stationary two-dark-bright soliton states is illustrated (with the bright components being either in- or out-of-phase). The equation of motion provides the characteristic oscillation frequencies of the solitons, in good agreement with the eigenfrequencies of the anomalous modes of the system.