Meron ground state of Rashba spin-orbit-coupled dipolar bosons.
We study the effects of dipolar interactions on a Bose-Einstein condensate with synthetically generated Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The dipolar interaction we consider includes terms that couple spin and orbital angular momentum in a way perfectly congruent with the single-particle Rashba coupling. We show that this internal spin-orbit coupling plays a crucial role in the rich ground-state phase diagram of the trapped condensate. In particular, we predict the emergence of a thermodynamically stable ground state with a meron spin configuration.
Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
Ryan M
RM
Wilson
Brandon M
BM
Anderson
Charles W
CW
Clark