Rydberg-induced Solitons: Three-dimensional Self-trapping of Matter Waves

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to create stable three-dimensional matter-wave solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates using Rydberg atom interactions, enabling self-trapping of atomic clouds as analogs of light bullets.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel scheme for generating stable 3D matter-wave solitons via Rydberg-induced nonlocal attractions in Bose-Einstein condensates.

Findings

Stable solitons are theoretically predicted under realistic conditions.

Rydberg dressing induces nonlocal attractive interactions.

Numerical simulations confirm the existence of self-trapped matter waves.

Abstract

We propose a scheme for the creation of stable three dimensional bright solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates, i.e., the matter-wave analog of so-called spatio-temporal "light bullets". Off-resonant dressing to Rydberg $nD$-states is shown to provide nonlocal attractive interactions, leading to self-trapping of mesoscopic atomic clouds by a collective excitation of a Rydberg atom pair. We present detailed potential calculations, and demonstrate the existence of stable solitons under realistic experimental conditions by means of numerical simulations.