We study the decay of a dark soliton in a homogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate. We give an analytical treatment of a decaying soliton, deriving an expression for the soliton velocity and decay time in the absence of thermal noise. We test the result against numerical simulations of a spatially confined system and find good agreement in the regime of low temperature ($k_BT\ll μ$). Thermal fluctuations are found to slow the escape of the soliton, extending its lifetime beyond the predictions of the noise-free theory; the effect becomes significant at a characteristic temperature $k_BT\sim μ$. This stabilization by noise allows us to infer an analytical lower bound for the dark soliton decay time.
We give explicit connections of quantum one-hole excited states to classical solitons for the one-dimensional Bose gas with repulsive short-range interactions. We call the quantum states connected to classical solitons the quantum soliton states. We show that the matrix element of the canonical field operator between quantum soliton states with $N-1$ and $N$ particles is given by a dark soliton of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the weak coupling case. We suggest that the matrix element corresponds to the order parameter of BEC in the quantum soliton state. The result should be useful in the …
We study the possibility of using dark soliton in quasi one dimensional Bose Einstein condensates to produce two level system (qubits) by exploiting the intrinsic nonlinear and the coherent nature of the matter waves. We calculate the soliton spectrum and the conditions for a qubit to exist. We also compute the coupling between the phonons and the soliton and investigate the emission rate of the qubits in that case. Remarkably, the qubit lifetime is estimated to be of the order of a few seconds, being by the dark soliton "death" due to quantum evaporation.
We examine the stability and dynamics of a family of crossed dark solitons in a harmonically confined Bose-Einstein condensate in two dimensions. Working in a regime where the fundamental snake instability is suppressed, we show the existence of an instability which leads to an interesting collapse and revival of the initial state for the fundamental case of two crossed solitons. The instability originates from the singular point where the solitons cross, and we characterise it by examining the Bogoliubov spectrum. Finally, we extend the treatment to systems of higher symmetry.
The truncated Wigner and positive-P phase-space representations are used to study the dynamics of a one-dimensional Bose gas. This allows calculations of the breathing quantum dynamics of higher-order solitons with 10^{3}-10^{5} particles, as in realistic Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) experiments. Although classically stable, these decay quantum mechanically. Our calculations show that there are large nonlocal correlations. These also violate the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, showing the presence of nonclassical quantum entanglement.
We numerically study the imprinting and dynamics of dark solitons in a bosonic atomic gas in a tightly-confined one-dimensional harmonic trap both with and without an optical lattice. Quantum and thermal fluctuations are synthesized within the truncated Wigner approximation in the quasi-condensate description. We track the soliton coordinates and calculate position and velocity uncertainties. We find that the phase fluctuations {\em lower} the classically predicted soliton speed and seed instabilities. Individual runs show interactions of solitons with sound waves, splitting and disappearing s…
We study the quantum reflection of a two-dimensional disk-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate with a dark-soliton excitation by a square potential barrier. For the giving geometry, the dark-soliton initially located at the centre of the condensate cloud survive long enough for investigating the reflection process. We show the time evolution of the reflection probability with respect to various width of the barrier. The asymptotic value of the reflection probability is decreased by the existence of a dark-soliton, and is highly sensitive to the initial orientation of the dark-soliton which also aff…
Unless protected by the exact integrability, solitons are subject to dissipative forces, originating from a thermally fluctuating background. At low enough temperatures $T$ background fluctuations should be considered as being quantized which enables us to calculate finite lifetime of the solitons $τ\sim T^{-4}$. We also find that the coherent nature of the quantum fluctuations leads to long-range interactions between the solitons mediated by the superradiation. Our results are of relevance to current experiments with ultracold atoms, while the approach may be extended to solitons in other med…
The recent experimental realization of Bose-Fermi superfluid mixtures of dilute ultracold atomic gases has opened new perspectives in the study of quantum many-body systems. Depending on the values of the scattering lengths and the amount of bosons and fermions, a uniform Bose-Fermi mixture is predicted to exhibit a fully mixed phase, a fully separated phase or, in addition, a purely fermionic phase coexisting with a mixed phase. The occurrence of this intermediate configuration has interesting consequences when the system is nonuniform. In this work we theoretically investigate the case of so…
Thermalization in a quenched one-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose gas is shown to proceed via a non-thermal fixed point through annihilation of Flemish-string bound states of magnetic solitons. A possible experimental situation is discussed.
In this paper we study dark solitons in quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in presence of an anharmonic external potential. The theoretical model is based on the Muñoz-Mateo and Delgado (MMD) equation that describes cigar-shaped BECs with repulsive interatomic interactions. Since MMD equation presents a nonpolynomial form, the soliton-sound recombination cannot display the same pattern presented in the cubic model. We perform numerical simulations to compare both cases.
We use stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation to study dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation. We show that cooling into a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) can create solitons with density given by the cooling rate and by the critical exponents of the transition. Thus, counting solitons left in its wake should allow one to determine the critical exponents z and nu for a BEC phase transition. The same information can be extracted from two-point correlation functions.
When an interaction quench by a factor of four is applied to an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate, a higher-order quantum bright soliton exhibiting robust oscillations is predicted in the semiclassical limit by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Combining matrix-product state simulations of the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with analytical treatment via the Lieb-Liniger model and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, we show these oscillations are absent. Instead, one obtains a large stationary soliton core with a small thermal cloud, a smoking-gun signal for non-semiclassical behavior on macrosc…
We propose a protocol for the simultaneous controlled creation of multiple concentric ring dark solitons in a toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. The decay of these solitons into a vortex-antivortex necklace shows revivals of the soliton structure, but eventually becomes an example of quantum turbulence.
Solitons in multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates have been paid much attention, due to the stability and wide applications of them. The exact soliton solutions are usually obtained for integrable models. In this paper, we present four families of exact spin soliton solutions for non-integrable cases in spin-1 Bose-Einstein Condensates. The whole particle density is uniform for the spin solitons, which is in sharp contrast to the previously reported solitons of integrable models. The spectrum stability analysis and numerical simulation indicate the spin solitons can exist stably. The spin …
We study the statics and dynamics of anisotropic, stable, bright and dark-in-bright dipolar quasi-two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) solitons on a one-dimensional (1D) optical-lattice (OL) potential. These solitons mobile in a plane perpendicular to the 1D OL trap can have both repulsive and attractive contact interactions. The dark-in-bright solitons are the excited states of the bright solitons. The solitons, when subject to a small perturbation, exhibit sustained breathing oscillation. The dark-in-bright solitons can be created by phase imprinting a bright soliton. At medium vel…
Synthetic spin-tensor-momentum coupling has recently been proposed to realize in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. Here we study bright solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates with spin-tensor-momentum coupling and spin-orbit coupling. The properties and dynamics of spin-tensor-momentum-coupled and spin-orbit-coupled bright solitons are identified to be different. We contribute the difference to the different symmetries.
We present a method to detect the presence and depth of dark solitons within repulsive one-dimensional harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. For a system with one soliton, we prove that the shift of the density in Fourier space directly maps onto the depth of the soliton. For multi-soliton systems, combining our spectral method with established imaging techniques, the character of the solitons present in the condensate can be determined. We verify that the detection of solitons by the spectral shift works in the presence of waves induced by density engineering methods. Finally we dis…
A simple and efficient method to create gap solitons is proposed in a spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. We find that a free expansion along the spin-orbit coupling dimension can generate two moving gap solitons, which are identified from a generalized massive Thirring model. The dynamics of gap solitons can be controlled by adjusting spin-orbit coupling parameters.
We look into dark solitons in a quasi-1D dipolar Bose gas and in a quantum droplet. We derive the analytical solitonic solution of a Gross-Pitaevskii-like equation accounting for beyond mean-field effects. The results show there is a certain critical value of the dipolar interactions, for which the width of a motionless soliton diverges. Moreover, there is a peculiar solution of the motionless soliton with a non-zero density minimum. We also present the energy spectrum of these solitons with an additional excitation subbranch appearing. Finally, we perform a series of numerical experiments rev…
In this paper we present soliton solutions of two coupled nonlinear Schodinger equations modulated in the bspace and time. The approach allows us to obatin solitons with large variety of solutions depending on the nonlinearity and the potential profiles. As examples we show three cases with soliton solution in such system, one of them with potential varying between repulsive and attractive behavior and the others with nonlinearity localized and delocalized, respectively.
We study numerically the dynamics of quantized vortices and solitons induced by an oscillating potential inside a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. The dynamics of the topological defects is much different from the case for a linear uniform object; the metamorphosis between vortices and solitons is characteristic of the dynamics. We discuss how vortices are nucleated by an oscillating potential.
We study numerically the outcome of the phase separation instability of a dual-species Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice. When only one excitation mode is unstable a bound pair of a bright and dark soliton-like structures periodically appears and disappears, whereas for more than one unstable mode a persistent soliton-antisoliton pair develops. The oscillating soliton represents a regime where the two-species condensate neither remains phase-separated nor is dynamically stable.
We discuss scattering between a bright soliton and a soliton dimer in coupled quasi-one-dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates. The dimer is formed by each soliton from both tubes due to the attractive inter-layer dipole-dipole interaction. The dipoles within each tube repel each other, and a stable, bright soliton is stabilized via attractive contact interactions. In general, the scattering is inelastic, transferring the kinetic energy into internal modes of both soliton dimer and single soliton. Our studies reveal rich scattering scenarios, including dimer-soliton repulsion at small i…
Two-dimensional (2D) fundamental soliton-soliton pairs are investigated in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions between atoms of the same type. Both attractive and repulsive interactions between atoms of different type are considered. The general properties of the stationary states are investigated variationally and numerically, and the stability regions of the soliton-soliton pairs are determined.
Quantum and classical integrable systems share common mathematical structures, and the phenomena appearing in them are interrelated. Solitons, which universally appear in classical integrable systems, also appear in quantum integrable systems. Here, we consider quantum-classical correspondence in a one-dimensional Bose gas with repulsive delta-function interaction and present quantum states corresponding to multi-dark solitons. Using an exact method, we compute the time evolution of the density profile in the multi-quantum dark soliton states. Localized solitary waves that behave like classica…
While different ways to realize spin-orbit coupling in Bose-Einstein condensates exist, not all are currently experimentally implementable. Here we present a detailed study of gap solitons in a Bose- Einstein condensate with experimentally realizable spin-orbit coupling and discuss two cases relating to a spin-dependent parity symmetry. In the parity symmetric case, two families of fundamental gap solitons in second linear energy gap are demonstrated with opposite sign of the parity, with one family having single humped densities and the other double humped ones. In the case of broken parity s…
We study bright solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate with a spin-orbit coupling that has been realized experimentally. Both stationary bright solitons and moving bright solitons are found. The stationary bright solitons are the ground states and possess well-defined spin-parity, a symmetry involving both spatial and spin degrees of freedom; these solitons are real valued but not positive definite, and the number of their nodes depends on the strength of spin-orbit coupling. For the moving bright solitons, their shapes are found to change with velocity due to the lack of Galilean invariance i…
Recent experimental and theoretical results show that weakly interacting atomic Bose-Bose mixtures with attractive interspecies interaction are stabilized by beyond-mean-field effects. Here we consider the peculiar properties of these systems in a strictly one-dimensional configuration, taking also into account the nontrivial role of spin-orbit and Rabi couplings. We show that when the value of inter- and intraspecies interaction strengths are such that mean-field contributions to the energy cancel, a self-bound bright soliton fully governed by quantum fluctuations exists. We derive the phase …
The system of a transversely pumped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) coupled to a lossy ring cavity can favor a supersolid steady state. Here we find the existence of supersolid gap soliton in such a driven-dissipative system. By numerically solving the mean-field atom-cavity field coupling equations, gap solitons of a few different families have been identified. Their dynamical properties, including stability, propagation and soliton collision, are also studied. Due to the feedback atom-intracavity field interaction, these supersolid gap solitons show numerous new features compared with the usu…
In certain field theoretical models, composite solitons consisting of a domain wall and vortex lines attached to the wall have been referred to as D-brane solitons. We show that similar composite solitons can be realized in phase-separated two-component Bose-Einstein condensates. We discuss the similarities and differences between topological solitons in the Abelian-Higgs model and those in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates. Based on the formulation of gauge theory, we introduce the "boojum charge" to characterize the "D-brane soliton" in Bose-Einstein condensates.
Bloch oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensates realize sensitive matter-wave interferometers. We investigate the dynamics and stability of bright-soliton wave packets in one-dimensional tilted optical lattices with a modulated mean-field interaction $g(t)$. By means of a time-reversal argument, we prove the stability of Bloch oscillations of breathing solitons that would be quasistatically unstable. Floquet theory shows that these breathing solitons can be more stable against certain experimental perturbations than rigid solitons or even non-interacting wave packets.
By solving the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation we generate two-dimensional axially-symmetric and anisotropic dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate bright solitons, for repulsive atomic interaction, stabilized by only a weak one-dimensional optical lattice (OL) aligned along and perpendicular, respectively, to the dipole polarization direction. In the former case vortex solitons can also be created. We show that it is possible to make a stable array of small interacting axially-symmetric dipolar solitons put on alternate OL sites. Further, we demonstrate the elastic nature of the collisi…
The stability of dark solitons generated by a supersonic flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate past a concave corner (or a wedge) is studied. It is shown that solitons in the dispersive shock wave generated at the initial moment of time demonstrate a snake instability during their evolution to stationary curved solitons. Time of decay of soliton to vortices agrees very well with analytical estimates of the instability growth rate.
The hydrodynamics of quantized vortices and solitons in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate excited by an oscillating potential are studied by numerically solving the two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The oscillating potential keeps nucleating vortex dipoles, whose impulses alternatively change their direction synchronously with the oscillation of the potential. This leads to synergy dynamics of vortices and solitons which have not been previously reported in quantum fluids.
Ring-trapped Bose-Einstein condensates subject to spin-orbit coupling support localized dark soliton excitations that show periodic density dynamics in real space. In addition to the density feature, solitons also carry a localized pseudo-spin magnetization that exhibits a rich and tunable dynamics. Analytic results for Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling and spin-invariant interactions predict a conserved magnitude and precessional motion for the soliton magnetization that allows for the simulation of spin-related geometric phases recently seen in electronic transport measurements.
We reveal that Hopf solitons can be stabilized in rotating atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The Hopfion is a matter-wave vortex complex which carries two independent winding numbers. Such a topological solitonic structure results from a superfluid flow of atoms simultaneously quantized in poloidal and toroidal directions. In the framework of a dissipative mean-field model we observe different unstable evolution scenarios of the Hopfions. We demonstrate energetic and dynamical stability of the Hopf solitons under experimentally feasible conditions.
We study solitary waves of polarization (magnetic solitons) in a two-component Bose gas with slightly unequal repulsive intra- and interspin interactions. In experimentally relevant conditions we obtain an analytical solution which reveals that the width and the velocity of magnetic solitons are explicitly related to the spin healing length and the spin sound velocity of the Bose mixture, respectively. We calculate the profiles, the energy and the effective mass of the solitons in the absence of external fields and investigate their oscillation in a harmonic trap where the oscillation period i…
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 q…
We present families of beating dark-dark solitons in spin-orbit (SO) coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. These families consist of solitons residing simultaneously in the two bands of the energy spectrum. The soliton components are characterized by two different spatial and temporal scales, which are identified by a multiscale expansion method. The solitons are "beating" ones, as they perform density oscillations with a characteristic frequency, relevant to Zitterbewegung (ZB). We find that spin oscillations may occur, depending on the parity of each soliton branch, which consequently lead to Z…
Experiments on ultra-cold attractive Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) have demonstrated that at low dimensions atomic clouds can form localized objects, propagating for long times without significant changes in their shapes and attributed to bright matter-wave solitons, which are coherent objects. We consider the dynamics of bright soliton trains from the perspective of many-boson physics. The fate of matter-wave soliton trains is actually to quickly loose their coherence and become macroscopically fragmented BECs. The death of the coherent matter-wave soliton trains gives birth to fragmented …
We study a two-dimensional spin-orbit-coupled dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate with repulsive contact interactions by both the variational method and the imaginary time evolution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The dipoles are completely polarized along one direction in the 2D plane so as to provide an effective attractive dipole-dipole interaction. We find two types of solitons as the ground states arising from such attractive interactions: a plane wave soliton with a spatially varying phase and a stripe soliton with a spatially oscillating density for each component. Both types of solitons…
In a cigar shaped Bose-Einstein condensate, explicit solutions of the coupled mean-field equations, describing defect-grey soliton dynamics are obtained, demonstrating the coexistence of grey soliton and a localized defect. Unlike the case of dark soliton, where the defect trapping center has vanishing superfluid density, the moving grey soliton necessarily possesses a finite superfluid component at the defect location. The wave vector of the impurity is controlled by the velocity of the grey soliton, which has an upper bound. It is found that the presence of the impurity lowers the speed of t…
We report explicitly a novel family of exact PT-symmetric solitons and further study their spontaneous PT symmetry breaking, stabilities and collisions in Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a PT-symmetric harmonic trap and a Hermite-Gaussian gain/loss potential. We observe the significant effects of mean-field interaction by modifying the threshold point of spontaneous PT symmetry breaking in Bose-Einstein condensates. Our scenario provides a promising approach to study PT-related universal behaviors in non-Hermitian quantum system based on the manipulation of gain/loss potential in Bose-Ein…
We develop an analytical description of static ferrodark solitons, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological defects in the magnetic order, in the easy-plane phase of ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. We find that the type-I ferrodark soliton has a single width while the type-II ferrodark soliton exhibits two characteristic length scales. The proposed ansatzes show excellent agreement with numerical results. Spin-singlet amplitudes, nematic tensor densities and nematic currents of ferrodark solitons are also discussed. The $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological defects in the mass superfluid order, dar…
We describe a protocol to prepare solitons in a quasi-1d box-trapped Bose-Einstein condensate using only a quench of the isotropic s-wave scattering length. A quench to exactly four times the initial 1d coupling strength creates one soliton at each boundary of the box, which then propagate in a uniform background density and collide with one another. No nonsolotonic excitations are created during the quench. The procedure is robust against imperfections in the scattering length ramp rate and a mismatch of the final scattering length.
Attractive Bose-Einstein condensates can host two types of macroscopic self-bound states of different nature: bright solitons and quantum liquid droplets. Here, we investigate the connection between them with a Bose-Bose mixture confined in an optical waveguide. We develop a simple theoretical model to show that, depending on atom number and interaction strength, solitons and droplets can be smoothly connected or remain distinct states coexisting only in a bi-stable region. We experimentally measure their spin composition, extract their density for a broad range of parameters and map out the b…
A number of recent experiments with nearly pure atomic Bose-Einstein condensates have confirmed the predicted dark soliton oscillations when under harmonic trapping. However, a dark soliton propagating in an inhomogeneous condensate has also been predicted to be unstable to the emission of sound waves. Although harmonic trapping supports an equilibrium between the co-existing soliton and sound, we show that the ensuing dynamics are sensitive to trap anharmonicities. Such anharmonicities can break the soliton-sound equilibrium and lead to the net decay of the soliton on a considerably shorter t…
We experimentally investigate the dynamics of spin solitary waves (magnetic solitons) in a harmonically trapped, binary superfluid mixture. We measure the in-situ density of each pseudospin component and their relative local phase via an interferometric technique we developed, and as such, fully characterise the magnetic solitons while they undergo oscillatory motion in the trap. Magnetic solitons exhibit non-dispersive, dissipationless long-time dynamics. By imprinting multiple magnetic solitons in our ultracold gas sample, we engineer binary collisions between solitons of either same or oppo…
Spin-1 spin-orbit-coupled spinor Bose-Einstein condensates have been realized in experiment. We study spin-orbit-coupled spinor gap solitons in this experimentally realizable system with an optical lattice. The spin-dependent parity symmetry of the spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in properties of gap solitons. Two families of solitons with opposite spin-dependent parity are found. Using an approximating model by replacing the optical lattice with a Harmonic trap, we demonstrate the physical origination of these two families. For a large negative quadratic Zeeman shift, we also find…
We demonstrate stable, robust, bright dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) solitons, moving in a direction perpendicular to the polarization direction, formed due to dipolar interaction for repulsive contact interaction. At medium velocity the head on collision of two such solitons is found to be quasi elastic with practically no deformation. Upon small perturbation the solitons are found to exhibit sustained breathing oscillation. The findings are illustrated by numerical simulation using the 3D mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation and a reduced 2D model in three and two spatial dimensions …
In a shaken Bose-Einstein condensate, confined in a vibrating trap, there can appear different nonlinear coherent modes. Here we concentrate on two types of such coherent modes, vortex ring solitons and vortex rings. In a cylindrical trap, vortex ring solitons can be characterized as nonlinear Hermite-Laguerre modes, whose description can be done by means of optimized perturbation theory. The energy, required for creating vortex ring solitons, is larger than that needed for forming vortex rings. This is why, at a moderate excitation energy, vortex rings appear before vortex ring solitons. The …
We show that the onset of the snake instability of ring dark solitons requires a broken symmetry. We also elucidate explicitly the connection between imaginary Bogoliubov modes and the snake instability, predicting the number of vortex-anti-vortex pairs produced. In addition, we propose a simple model to give a physical motivation as to why the snake instability takes place. Finally, we show that tight confinement in a toroidal potential actually enhances soliton decay due to inhibition of soliton motion.
By numerical and variational analysis of the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation we study the formation and dynamics of bright and vortex-bright solitons in a cigar-shaped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate for large repulsive atomic interactions. Phase diagram showing the region of stability of the solitons is obtained. We also study the dynamics of breathing oscillation of the solitons as well as the collision dynamics of two solitons at large velocities. Two solitons placed side-by-side at rest coalesce to form a stable bound soliton molecule due to dipolar attraction.
We investigate magnetic solitons in an immiscible binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the intraspecies interactions are slightly weaker than the interspecies interactions. While their density and phase profiles are analogous to dark-bright solitons, other characteristic properties such as velocities, widths, total density depletions, and in-trap oscillations are different. In the low velocity regime, a magnetic soliton reduces to a traveling pair of magnetic domain walls. Collisional behaviors of the solitons are also briefly discussed. We further demonstrate that these solitonic stat…
We discuss how to construct stable multidimensional extensions of one-dimensional dark solitons, the so-called soliton stripes, in two-species Bose-Einstein condensates in the immiscible regime. We show how using a second component to fill the core a dark soliton stripe leads to reduced instabilities while propagating in homogeneous media. We also discuss how in the presence of a trap arbitrarily long-lived dark soliton stripes can be constructed by increasing the filling of the dark stripe core. Numerical evidences of the robustness of the dark soliton stripes in collision scenarios are also …
