corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. A » Volume 79 » Issue 4
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. A 79, 043603 (2009) [8 pages]

Spinor Bose-Einstein condensate flow past an obstacle

Download: PDF (646 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

A. S. Rodrigues1, P. G. Kevrekidis2, R. Carretero-González3, D. J. Frantzeskakis4, P. Schmelcher5,6, T. J. Alexander7, and Yu. S. Kivshar7
1Departamento de Física/CFP, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, R. Campo Alegre, 687-4169-007 Porto, Portugal
2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4515, USA
3Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Group,* and Computational Science Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182-7720, USA
4Department of Physics, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, Athens 157 84, Greece
5Theoretische Chemie, Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
6Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
7Nonlinear Physics Center, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

Received 7 November 2008; published 3 April 2009

We study the flow of a spinor (F=1) Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of an obstacle. We consider the cases of ferromagnetic and polar spin-dependent interactions, and find that the system demonstrates two speeds of sound that are identified analytically. Numerical simulations reveal the nucleation of macroscopic nonlinear structures, such as dark solitons and vortex-antivortex pairs, as well as vortex rings in one- and higher-dimensional settings, respectively, when a localized defect (e.g., a blue-detuned laser beam) is dragged through the spinor condensate at a speed larger than the second critical speed.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.79.043603
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.79.043603
PACS:
03.75.Mn, 03.75.Lm, 03.75.Kk

*http://nlds.sdsu.edu

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >