Modulation instability in quasi-two-dimensional spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensates

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the dynamics of modulation instability (MI) in two-dimensional spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with Rabi coupling. The analysis is performed for equal densities of pseudo-spin components. Different combination of the signs of intra- and intercomponent interaction strengths are considered, with a particular emphasis on repulsive interactions. We observe that the unstable modulation builds from originally miscible condensates, depending on the combination of the signs of the intra- and intercomponent interaction strengths. The repulsive intra- and intercomponent interactions admit instability and the MI immiscibility condition is no longer significant. The influence of interaction parameters such as spin–orbit and Rabi coupling on MI are also investigated. The spin–orbit coupling (SOC) inevitably contributes to instability regardless of the nature of the interaction. In the case of attractive interaction, SOC manifests in enhancing the MI. Thus, a comprehensive study of MI in two-dimensional spin–orbit coupled BECs of pseudo-spin components is presented.