Controlling the transverse instability of dark solitons and nucleation of vortices by a potential barrier

2010/04/30 by Manjun Ma, R. Carretero-Gonzalez, P. G. Kevrekidis +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.quant-gas #nlin.PS

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.82.023621

published as Phys. Rev. A 82, 023621 (2010) · 10 pages, 7 figures. To appear on Phys. Rev. A, 2010

arxiv created 2010/07/15 · arxiv updated 2010/12/09

Abstract

We study possibilities to suppress the transverse modulational instability (MI) of dark-soliton stripes in two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and self-defocusing bulk optical waveguides by means of quasi-1D structures. Adding an external repulsive barrier potential (which can be induced in BEC by a laser sheet, or by an embedded plate in optics), we demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the MI wavenumber band, and even render the dark-soliton stripe completely stable. Using this method, we demonstrate the control of the number of vortex pairs nucleated by each spatial period of the modulational perturbation. By means of the perturbation theory, we predict the number of the nucleated vortices per unit length. The analytical results are corroborated by the numerical computation of eigenmodes of small perturbations, as well as by direct simulations of the underlying Gross-Pitaevskii/nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

Cited by

• Stabilization of two-dimensional optical continuous-wave states by a potential trough

Related

• Solitonic vortices and the fundamental modes of the “snake instability”: Possibility of observation in the gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate
• Optically tuned soliton dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates within dark traps
• Decay of soliton-like perturbations into vortex - anti vortex pairs
• Generation, propagation and control of quantized vortices and dark solitons in polariton superfluids
• Engineering Dark Solitary waves in Ring-Trap Bose-Einstein condensates