Dark solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates

Summary form only given. One of the most striking aspects of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of weakly interacting gases are the nonlinear properties of these systems. Of particular interest are macroscopically excited states, such as solitons and vortices. We report on the experimental and theoretical investigation of dark solitons in BEC´s of /sup 87/Rb. A highly anisotropic confining potential allows us to be close to the quasi 1D situation where dark solitons are expected to be dynamically stable. Low lying excited states are produced by the method of phase imprinting. By monitoring the evolution of the density profile we study the dynamics of the wavefunction.