Interaction imbalanced spin-orbit coupled quantum droplets

Abstract

We explore the ground states and quench dynamics of one-dimensional quantum droplets with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and an imbalance in intracomponent interactions. A plethora of miscible ground state stripe and standard (i.e., non-modulated) droplets is found depending on the SOC wavenumber and building upon Gaussian to flat-top background for increasing (decreasing) atom number (interactions). Deformations among the states were accompanied by spin population transfer caused by the Rabi coupling and could be controlled by adjusting the interactions or the SOC parameters. When considering a trap, we identified a transition from a bound to a trapped gas many-body state, characterized by a sign change of the chemical potential, which occurred at lower (larger) atom numbers for tighter traps (stronger interactions). The droplet's breathing motion was accompanied by minor population transfer, and its frequency increases for a larger intracomponent interaction ratio or reaching a maximum at SOC wavenumbers, where the transition from non-modulated flat-top to stripe droplets occurred. We witness droplet fragmentation for abrupt changes in the Rabi coupling while large amplitude quenches of the SOC wavenumber trigger spin-demixing, resulting in constant amplitude but opposite direction motion of untrapped droplets or in-trap out-of-phase oscillating droplets. Our findings have implications for controlled spin-demixing processes of droplets and the excitation of relevant magnetic bound states.