107 research outputs found
Optical-lattice-assisted magnetic phase transition in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate
We investigate the effect of a periodic potential generated by a
one-dimensional optical lattice on the magnetic properties of an
spin-orbit-coupled Bose gas. By increasing the lattice strength one can achieve
a magnetic phase transition between a polarized and an unpolarized Bloch wave
phase, characterized by a significant enhancement of the contrast of the
density fringes. If the wave vector of the periodic potential is chosen close
to the roton momentum, the transition could take place at very small lattice
intensities, revealing the strong enhancement of the response of the system to
a weak density perturbation. By solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the
presence of a three-dimensional trapping potential, we shed light on the
possibility of observing the magnetic phase transition in currently available
experimental conditions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Revised version, published in PR
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