AC Oscillation of a Spin Soliton Driven by a Constant Force.

The phenomena of AC oscillation generated by a DC drive, such as the famous Josephson AC effect in superconductors and Bloch oscillation in solid physics, are of great interest in physics. Here we report another example of such counter-intuitive phenomenon that a spin soliton in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate is driven by a constant force: The initially static spin soliton first moves in a direction opposite to the force and then changes direction, showing an extraordinary AC oscillation in a long term. In sharp contrast to the Josephson AC effect and Bloch oscillation, we find that the nonlinear interactions play important roles and the spin soliton can exhibit a periodic transition between negative and positive inertial mass even in the absence of periodic potentials. We then develop an explicit quasiparticle model that can account for this extraordinary oscillation satisfactorily. Important implications and possible applications of our finding are discussed.