Motion of solitons in one-dimensional spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

Solitons play a fundamental role in the dynamics of nonlinear excitations. Herewe explore the motion of solitons in one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates subjected to a spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We demonstrate that the spin dynamics of solitons is governed by a nonlinear Bloch equation. The spin dynamics affects the orbital motion of solitons leading to spin-orbit effects in the dynamics of macroscopic quantum objects (mean-field solitons). The latter perform oscillations with a frequency determined by the SOC, Raman coupling, and intrinsic nonlinearity. These findings reveal unique features of solitons affected by the SOC, which are confirmed by analytical considerations and numerical simulations of the underlying Gross-Pitaevskii equations.