Dynamics of Topological Defects in a Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensate

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2412.18850
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Liu, Sheng; Zhang, Yong-Sheng
• Keywords: Quantum Physics; Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas); FOS: Physical sciences; Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases; Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

8 pages, 11 figures<br/>We investigate the quench dynamics of a two-dimensional Rashba spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate. Our study focuses on quenching the system from a zero-momentum phase to a plane-wave phase. During this quench, topological defects emerge in the form of vortices. These vortices and anti-vortices exhibit a random spatial distribution with equal numbers, mirroring the core principles of Kosterlitz-Thouless physics. In a uniform system, we observe an exponential scaling of both the vortex production time and the vortex number with the quench rate, consistent with the conventional Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The decay of which adheres to a logarithmic law, aligning with experimental observations.<br/>