Generation of dark-bright soliton trains in superfluid-superfluid counterflow

Abstract: The dynamics of two penetrating superfluids exhibit an intriguing variety of nonlinear effects. Using two distinguishable components of a Bose-Einstein condensate, we investigate the counterflow of two superfluids in a narrow channel. We present the first experimental observation of trains of dark-bright solitons generated by the counterflow. Our observations are theoretically interpreted by three-dimensional numerical simulations for the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equations and the analysis of a jump in the two relatively flowing components' densities. Counterflow induced modulational instability for this miscible system is identified as the central process in the dynamics.