Dynamics and formation of vortices collapsed from ring dark solitons in a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

We consider the dynamics and formation of vortices from ring dark solitons in a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with the Rashba spin-orbit coupling based on the time-dependent coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Compared with previous results, the system exhibits complex dynamical behaviors in the presence of the spin-orbit coupling. With the modulation of the spin-orbit coupling, not only the lifetime of ring dark solitons is greatly prolonged, but also their attenuation kinetics is significantly affected. For two shallow ring dark solitons with the equal strength of the spin-orbit coupling, the radius of ring dark solitons increases to a maximum value over time and then shrinks into a minimum value. Due to the effect of the snake instability, ring dark solitons split into a series of ring-like clusters of vortex pairs, which perform complex oscillations. This indicates that the system is strongly dependent on the presence of the spin-orbit coupling. Furthermore, the effect of different initial modulation depths on the dynamics of ring dark solitons is investigated.