Journal
CHINESE PHYSICS LETTERS
Volume 28, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0256-307X/28/9/097102
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Funding
- US NSF-DMR [1105945]
- AFOSR-YIP
- CUSF
- SRFD [20103402120031]
- China Postdoctoral Science
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According to the no-node theorem, the many-body ground state wavefunctions of conventional Bose-Einstein condensations (BEC) are positive-definite, thus time-reversal symmetry cannot be spontaneously broken. We find that multi-component bosons with spin-orbit coupling provide an unconventional type of BECs beyond this paradigm. We focus on a subtle case of isotropic Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the spin-independent interaction. In the limit of the weak confining potential, the condensate wavefunctions are frustrated at the Hartree-Fock level due to the degeneracy of the Rashba ring. Quantum zero-point energy selects the spin-spiral type condensate through the order-from-disorder mechanism. In a strong harmonic confining trap, the condensate spontaneously generates a half-quantum vortex combined with the skyrmion type of spin texture. In both cases, time-reversal symmetry is spontaneously broken. These phenomena can be realized in both cold atom systems with artificial spin-orbit couplings generated from atom-laser interactions and exciton condensates in semi-conductor systems.
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