Control of matter-wave solitons using an accelerating atomic mirror

Abstract

Abstract We present a possible way to control matter-wave solitons, which is through the collision between solitons and an accelerating atomic mirror. The acceleration of the mirror has a nontrivial effect on the dynamical characters of the reflected solitons. In the one-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensates, when the acceleration of the mirror has the identical direction with the initial soliton’s velocity, the soliton will diffuse after collision; in the contrasting case, the soliton will shrink and then diffuse. We quantitatively explain the above dynamical phenomena by analyzing the atoms’ movement in the soliton, and demonstrate that the method can generate a similar effect to the phase imprinting technology. Moreover, considering the dipolar effect between atoms, this approach can be used for the generation and control of breathing solitons.