Tunneling dynamics of spin-orbit coupled BECs in a one-dimensional accelerating optical lattice

We theoretically investigate the energy band structure, nonlinear Landau–Zener tunneling dynamics and tunneling probability of spin-orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensates in a one-dimensional accelerating optical lattice by using mean-field and two-mode approximation. The critical condition for the appearance of the loop structure is obtained numerically in parameter planes. When the intraspecies atomic interaction is less than the interspecies atomic interaction, the loop only appears in the lower band. In this case, Raman coupling inhibits the appearance of loop, while spin-orbit coupling (SOC) promotes the appearance of loop. If the intraspecies atomic interaction is larger than interspecies atomic interaction, the loop can appear in either the upper band or the lower band. In this case, Raman coupling promotes the loop appearing in the lower band, while SOC suppresses the loop appearing in upper band. Interestingly, when the interspecies atomic interaction is equal to the intraspecies atomic interaction, there is a critical atomic intercation value determined by the optical lattice depth, only when the intraspecies atomic interaction is greater than the critical value, the loop will occur only in lower band. Especially, the emergence of the loop structure destroys the Bloch oscillation of the system and results in the nonlinear Landau–Zener tunneling of the system. Furthermore, the Landau–Zener tunneling probability of the system is calculated, and it is found that the nonlinear Landau–Zener dynamics and the tunneling probability can be manipulated by SOC and Raman coupling.