Dark-gray soliton transformations: possibility to study microscopic quantum phenomena by nonlinear optical methods

Abstract

The nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) model with an external harmonic potential is one of the most important in modern science. This model makes it possible to analyze a variety of nonlinear phenomena, in nonlinear optics and laser physics, biophysics and in the theory of Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms. It is shown that the main specific feature of the dynamics of dark GP matter wave solitons in a parabolic trap is the formation of solitons with dynamically changing form-factors producing the periodic variation in the modulation depth (the degree of “blackness”) of dark solitons. In general, the period of dark soliton oscillations in trapping potential depends on the specific conditions of the experiment and does not coincide with the oscillation period of a linear quantum-mechanical oscillator. In the case of an immobile pedestal in the trap, the oscillation period of the black soliton considerably increases because of the periodic transformation of the black soliton to the gray one and vice versa. Surprisingly, that if the dark soliton is superimposed on the base pedestal oscillating in the trap and displaced from the trap center, the oscillation period of the dark soliton coincides with the period of oscillations of the linear harmonic oscillator, while the dynamics of the dark soliton is similar to that of a classical particle obeying the Newton mechanics laws.