Zitterbewegung effect in spin-orbit coupled spin-1 ultracold atoms

TL;DR

This paper explores how Zeeman fields and harmonic traps influence the Zitterbewegung oscillations in spin-orbit coupled spin-1 ultracold atoms, revealing controllable and persistent oscillation behaviors.

Contribution

It demonstrates the effects of Zeeman fields and harmonic traps on Zitterbewegung in spin-1 cold atoms, including suppression, enhancement, and multi-frequency oscillations, with robustness against interactions.

Findings

Zeeman field modulates oscillation amplitude and frequency.

Harmonic trap leads to persistent oscillations.

Interactions do not destroy Zitterbewegung effect.

Abstract

The Zitterbewegung effect in spin-orbit coupled spin-1 cold atoms is investigated in the presence of the Zeeman field and a harmonic trap. It is shown that the Zeeman field and the harmonic trap have significant effect on the Zitterbewegung oscillatory behaviors. The external Zeeman field could suppress or enhance the Zitterbewegung amplitude and change the frequencies of oscillation. A much slowly damping Zitterbewegung oscillation can be achieved by adjusting both the linear and quadratic Zeeman field. Multi-frequency Zitterbewegung oscillation can be induced by the applied Zeeman field. In the presence of the harmonic trap, the subpackets corresponding to different eigenenergies would always keep coherent, resulting in the persistent Zitterbewegung oscillations. The Zitterbewegung oscillation would display very complicated and irregular oscillation characteristics due to the coexistence of different frequencies of the Zitterbewegung oscillation. Numerical results show that, the Zitterbewegung effect is robust even in the presence of interaction between atoms.