Stable two-dimensional dark-soliton molecules in Rydberg atomic gases
Phys. Rev. A 113, 063504 – Published 1 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z515-d5rt
Abstract
Bound states of solitons, alias soliton molecules, are of great interest as they are responsible not only for many new physical phenomena but also for being useful in various applications. In contrast with bright soliton molecules, the formation of stable dark-soliton molecules (DSMs) is more challenging because the interaction between dark solitons is inherently repulsive in a defocusing medium. Here we propose a practical scheme to create stable two-dimensional (2D) DSMs in a gas of Rydberg atoms, which renders not only a giant and nonlocal Kerr nonlinearity but also tunable parameters. We show that stable 2D DSMs can be produced due to the balance of the nonlocality-induced attractive force and the inherent repulsive interaction between 2D dark solitons. Further, they have more spatial configurations than the stable 1D DSMs. We also show that the DSM size can be actively controlled by changing the nonlocality degree of the nonlocal Kerr nonlinearity.
