Experimental observation of oscillating and interacting matter wave dark solitons.
We report on the generation, subsequent oscillation and interaction of a pair of matter-wave dark solitons. These are created by releasing a Bose-Einstein condensate from a double well potential into a harmonic trap in the crossover regime between one dimension and three dimensions. Multiple oscillations and collisions of the solitons are observed, in quantitative agreement with simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. An effective particle picture is developed and confirms that the deviation of the observed oscillation frequencies from the asymptotic prediction nu(z)/sqrt 2, where nu(z) is the longitudinal trapping frequency, results from the dimensionality of the system and the soliton interactions.
Weller
A
A
Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, INF 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Ronzheimer
J P
JP
Gross
C
C
Esteve
J
J
Oberthaler
M K
MK
Frantzeskakis
D J
DJ
Theocharis
G
G
Kevrekidis
P G
PG