Phase diagrams and Thomas-Fermi estimates for spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates under rotation

TL;DR

This paper maps the phase diagrams of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates with spin-orbit coupling under rotation, providing analytical insights and classifying diverse ground states including giant skyrmions.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive classification of ground states in spin-orbit coupled BECs under rotation, with analytical explanations using the Thomas-Fermi approximation.

Findings

Complete phase diagrams of ground states

Analytical description of giant skyrmions

Relation of patterns to ferromagnetic energy

Abstract

We provide complete phase diagrams describing the ground state of a trapped spinor BEC under the combined effects of rotation and a Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The interplay between the different parameters (magnitude of rotation, strength of the spin-orbit coupling and interaction) leads to a rich ground state physics that we classify. We explain some features analytically in the Thomas-Fermi approximation, writing the problem in terms of the total density, total phase and spin. In particular, we analyze the giant skyrmion, and find that it is of degree 1 in the strong segregation case. In some regions of the phase diagrams, we relate the patterns to a ferromagnetic energy.