Matter-wave bright solitons in spin-orbit coupled bose-einstein condensates

Abstract

We study matter-wave bright solitons in spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions. We use a multiscale expansion method to identify solution families for chemical potentials in the semi-infinite gap of the linear energy spectrum. Depending on the linear and spin-orbit coupling strengths, the solitons may present either a sech2-shaped or a modulated density profile reminiscent of the stripe phase of spin-orbit coupled repulsive Bose-Einstein condensates. Our numerical results are in excellent agreement with our analytical findings and demonstrate the potential robustness of solitons for experimentally relevant conditions. © 2013 American Physical Society.