Interaction-sensitive oscillations of dark solitons in trapped dipolar condensates

Abstract

Thanks to their immense purity and controllability, dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates are an exemplar for studying fundamental nonlocal 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 nondipolar case. Established analytical techniques are shown to not capture the simulated dynamics. These sensitive waves may act as mesoscopic probes of the underlying quantum matter field.