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arXiv · 1612.04055

Negative mass hydrodynamics in a Spin-Orbit--Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensate

M. A. Khamehchi·Khalid Hossain·M. E. Mossman·Yongping Zhang·Th. Busch·Michael McNeil Forbes·P. Engels
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Abstract

A negative effective mass can be realized in quantum systems by engineering the dispersion relation. A powerful method is provided by spin-orbit coupling, which is currently at the center of intense research efforts. Here we measure an expanding spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate whose dispersion features a region of negative effective mass. We observe a range of dynamical phenomena, including the breaking of parity and of Galilean covariance, dynamical instabilities, and self-trapping. The experimental findings are reproduced by a single-band Gross-Pitaevskii simulation, demonstrating that the emerging features - shockwaves, soliton trains, self-trapping, etc. - originate from a modified dispersion. Our work also sheds new light on related phenomena in optical lattices, where the underlying periodic structure often complicates their interpretation.

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M. A. Khamehchi, Khalid Hossain, M. E. Mossman, Yongping Zhang, Th. Busch, Michael McNeil Forbes, P. Engels. 2016-12-13. Negative mass hydrodynamics in a Spin-Orbit--Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensate. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.155301

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