Abstract
We report on the generation, subsequent oscillation and interaction of a pair of matter-wave dark solitons. These are created by releasing a Bose-Einstein condensate from a double well potential into a harmonic trap in the crossover regime between one dimension and three dimensions. Multiple oscillations and collisions of the solitons are observed, in quantitative agreement with simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. An effective particle picture is developed and confirms that the deviation of the observed oscillation frequencies from the asymptotic prediction , where is the longitudinal trapping frequency, results from the dimensionality of the system and the soliton interactions.
- Received 7 April 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.130401
©2008 American Physical Society