Three-dimensional skyrmions in spin-2 Bose–Einstein condensates

We introduce topologically stable three-dimensional skyrmions in the cyclic and biaxial nematic phases of a spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate. These skyrmions exhibit exceptionally high mapping degrees resulting from the versatile symmetries of the corresponding order parameters. We show how these structures can be created in existing experimental setups and study their temporal evolution and lifetime by numerically solving the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equations for realistic parameter values. Although the skyrmions are eventually destroyed due to the instability of the underlying magnetic phase, their lifetimes are found to be long enough for experimental detection.