# Three-component soliton states in spinor $F=1$ Bose-Einstein condensates

## TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental observation of three-component solitons in spinor F=1 Bose-Einstein condensates, demonstrating their stability, lifetimes, and underlying universal models through combined experimental, theoretical, and numerical approaches.

## Contribution

It is the first to experimentally realize and analyze three-component solitons in spinor BECs, revealing their dynamics and universal behavior.

## Key findings

- Observation of dark-bright-bright and dark-dark-bright solitons with hundreds of milliseconds lifetime
- Validation of universal long-short wave resonant interaction models for these solitons
- Numerical simulations confirming stability and oscillatory behavior of the solitons

## Abstract

Dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates are an exceptionally versatile testbed for the investigation of novel solitonic structures. While matter-wave solitons in one- and two-component systems have been the focus of intense research efforts, an extension to three components has never been attempted in experiments, to the best of our knowledge. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the existence of robust dark-bright-bright (DBB) and dark-dark-bright (DDB) solitons in a spinor $F=1$ condensate. We observe lifetimes on the order of hundreds of milliseconds for these structures. Our theoretical analysis, based on a multiscale expansion method, shows that small-amplitude solitons of these types obey universal long-short wave resonant interaction models, namely Yajima-Oikawa systems. Our experimental and analytical findings are corroborated by direct numerical simulations highlighting the persistence of, e.g., the DBB states, as well as their robust oscillations in the trap.