Antonio Muñoz Mateo
Departament d’Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria, Universitat de Barcelona
We have analyzed the dynamics of planar solitons in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling by using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. In particular, we have focused on Josephson vortex (JV) states, which are the analogues of Josephson fluxons in superconducting systems. JVs are current states made of solitons in each condensate component, and are coupled in such a way that the relative phase jumps an integer multiple of 2. These configurations provide an excellent playground to observe the rich dynamics of planar solitons and vortex dipoles as has been previously done in scalar Bose-Einstein condensates through other states. We have found stable JVs in multidimensional systems within a regime of parameters typical of current experiments. Above an interaction threshold, and in oblate condensates, we have reported on how the JVs decay through the snake instability to produce vortex dipoles, which display an interesting dynamics guided by the spin-orbit coupling.