Condensation transition of ultracold Bose gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We study the Bose-Einstein condensate phase transition of three-dimensional ultracold bosons with isotropic Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Investigating the structure of Ginzburg-Landau free energy as a function of the condensate density, we show, within the Bogoliubov approximation, that the condensate phase transition is first order with a jump in the condensate density. We calculate the transition temperature and the jump in the condensate density at the transition for large spin-orbit coupling, where the transition temperature depends linearly on the density of particles. Finally, we discuss the feasibility of producing the phase transition experimentally.

5 pages, 2 figures, published version