1306.6102 (C. Hamner et al.)

Phase Winding a Two-Component BEC in an Elongated Trap: Experimental
Observation of Moving Magnetic Orders and Dark-bright Solitons    [PDF]

C. Hamner, Yongping Zhang, J. J. Chang, Chuanwei Zhang, P. Engels

We experimentally investigate the phase winding dynamics of a harmonically trapped two-component BEC subject to microwave induced Rabi oscillations between two pseudospin components. While the single particle dynamics can be explained by mapping the system to a two-component Bose-Hubbard model, nonlinearities due to the interatomic repulsion lead to new effects observed in the experiments: In the presence of a linear magnetic field gradient, a qualitatively stable moving magnetic order that is similar to antiferromagnetic order is observed after critical winding is achieved. We also demonstrate how the phase winding can be used as a new tool to generate copious dark-bright solitons in a two-component BEC, opening the door for new experimental studies of these nonlinear features.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.6102