  We propose a new method of creating solitons in elongated Bose-Einstein
Condensates (BECs) by sweeping three laser beams through the BEC. If one of the
beams is in the first order (TEM10) Hermite-Gaussian mode, its amplitude has a
transversal phase slip which can be transferred to the atoms creating a
soliton. Using this method it is possible to circumvent the restriction set by
the diffraction limit inherent to conventional methods such as phase
imprinting. The method allows one to create multicomponent (vector) solitons of
the dark-bright form as well as the dark-dark combination. In addition it is
possible to create in a controllable way two or more dark solitons with very
small velocity and close to each other for studying their collisional
properties.
