Half-skyrmion and meron pair in spinor condensates

TL;DR

This paper proposes an experimental method to create and control topological spin textures, such as half-skyrmions and meron pairs, in ultracold bosonic atoms using Laguerre-Gauss laser beams.

Contribution

It introduces a simple scheme to generate and study topological spin textures in spinor condensates with tunable properties based on interaction strength and laser intensity.

Findings

Half-skyrmion state appears at low interactions.

Meron pair forms at high interactions.

Ground state topological properties depend on experimental parameters.

Abstract

We propose a simple experimental scheme to generate spin textures in the ground state of interacting ultracold bosonic atoms loaded in a two-dimensional harmonic trap. Our scheme is based on two co-propagating Laguerre-Gauss laser beams illuminating the atoms and coupling two of their internal ground state Zeeman sublevels. Using a Gross-Pitaevskii description, we show that the ground state of the atomic system has different topological properties depending on the interaction strength and the laser beam intensity. A half-skyrmion state develops at low interactions while a meron pair develops at large interactions.