Bright solitary matter waves: formation, stability and interactions

TL;DR

This paper reviews the formation, stability, and interactions of bright solitary matter waves in Bose-Einstein condensates, highlighting experimental progress, theoretical insights, and future applications in quantum technologies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of bright solitary waves, comparing experimental observations with theoretical models, and discusses recent advances including beyond-mean-field effects and potential applications.

Findings

Bright solitary waves have been experimentally generated and observed.

Stability analysis reveals collapse and symmetry-breaking phenomena.

Potential applications in interferometry and surface probing are discussed.

Abstract

In recent years, bright soliton-like structures composed of gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates have been generated at ultracold temperature. The experimental capacity to precisely engineer the nonlinearity and potential landscape experienced by these solitary waves offers an attractive platform for fundamental study of solitonic structures. The presence of three spatial dimensions and trapping implies that these are strictly distinct objects to the true soliton solutions. Working within the zero-temperature mean-field description, we explore the solutions and stability of bright solitary waves, as well as their interactions. Emphasis is placed on elucidating their similarities and differences to the true bright soliton. The rich behaviour introduced in the bright solitary waves includes the collapse instability and symmetry-breaking collisions. We review the experimental formation and observation of bright solitary matter waves to date, and compare to theoretical predictions. Finally we discuss the current state-of-the-art of this area, including beyond-mean-field descriptions, exotic bright solitary waves, and proposals to exploit bright solitary waves in interferometry and as surface probes.