Energy Band and Josephson Dynamics of Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose–Einstein Condensates**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11274255 and 11305132, by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China under Grant No. 20136203110001, by the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu province under Grant No. 2011GS04358, and by Creation of Science and Technology

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the energy band structure and Josephson dynamics of a spin-orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. We study the energy band structure and the corresponding tunneling dynamics of the system by properly adjusting the SO coupling, Raman coupling, Zeeman field and atomic interactions. The coupled effects of SO coupling, Raman coupling, Zeeman field and atomic interactions lead to the appearance of complex energy band structure including the loop structure. Particularly, the emergence of the loop structure in energy band also depends on SO coupling, Raman coupling, Zeeman field and atomic interactions. Correspondingly, the Josephson dynamics of the system are strongly related to the energy band structure. Especially, the emergence of the loop structure results in complex tunneling dynamics, including suppression-revival transitions and self-trapping of atoms transfer between two spin states and two wells. This engineering provides a possible means for studying energy level and corresponding dynamics of two-species SO coupled BECs.