- Xiao-Qiang Xu: Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea.
We examine the combined effects of Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling and rotation on trapped spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. The nature of single particle states is thoroughly examined in the Landau level basis and is shown to support the formation of a half-quantum vortex. In the presence of weak s-wave interactions, the ground state at strong SO coupling develops ringlike structures with domains whose number shows step behavior with increasing rotation. For the fast rotation case, the vortex pattern favors a triangular lattice, accompanied by density depletion in the central region and a weakened Skyrmionic character as the SO coupling is enhanced. Giant vortex formation is facilitated when SO coupling and rotation are both strong.