Vortex Nucleation in a Stirred Bose-Einstein Condensate

2001/06/13 by Chandra Raman, C. Raman, J. R. Abo-Shaeer +4 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #cond-mat.soft

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.210402

arxiv created 2001/06/13 · openalex publication_date 2001/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We studied the nucleation of vortices in a Bose-Einstein condensate stirred by a laser beam. The vortex cores were observed using time-of-flight absorption imaging. Depending on the stirrer size, either discrete resonances or a broad response was visible as the stir frequency was varied. Stirring beams small compared to the condensate size generated vortices below the critical rotation frequency for the nucleation of surface modes, suggesting a local mechanism of generation. In addition, we observed the centrifugal distortion of the condensate due to the rotating vortex lattice and found evidence for bent vortices.

Citations

• Quantized circular motion of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate: Coherent rotation and vortices
• Vortices in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

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