Dynamics of kicked spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates.

We investigate the dynamics of kicked pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in a tightly confined toroidal trap. The system exhibits different dynamical behaviors depending on the competition among SOC, kick strength, kick period and interatomic interaction. For weak kick strength, with the increase of SOC the density profiles of two components evolve from overlapped symmetric distributions into staggered antisymmetric distributions, and the evolution of energy experiences a transition from quasiperiodic motion to modulated quantum beating. For large kick strength, when the SOC strength increases, the overlapped symmetric density distributions become staggered irregular patterns, and the energy evolution undergoes a transition from quasiperiodic motion to dynamical localization. Furthermore, in the case of weak SOC, the increase of kick period leads to a transition of the system from quantum beating to Rabi oscillation, while for the case of strong SOC the system demonstrates complex quasiperiodic motion. • The dynamics of kicked spin-1/2 interacting BECs with SOC is investigated. • The system sustains rich dynamical behaviors depending on different parameters. • For small kick strength, quantum beating can be modulated by increasing SOC strength. • Dynamical localization can be generated by strong SOC and large kick strength. • The system evolves from quantum beating to Rabi oscillation as kick period increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]