2013/09/30 by Matthew D. Reichl, Erich J. Mueller
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.quant-gas
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.88.053626
published as Phys. Rev. A 88, 053626 (2013) · 6 pages, 6 figures, revtex4; new subsection and figure addressing axial asymmetry, added references to sections 2 and 3, minor changes to section 5, main conclusions unchanged
arxiv created 2013/10/31 · arxiv updated 2015/06/17
We use the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation to study the motion of a vortex ring produced by phase imprinting on an elongated cloud of cold atoms. Our approach models the experiments of Yefsah et. al. [Nature 499, 426] on 6Li in the BEC regime where the fermions are tightly bound into bosonic dimers. We find ring oscillation periods which are much larger than the period of the axial harmonic trap. Our results lend further strength to Bulgac et. al.'s arguments [arXiv: 1306.4266] that the "heavy solitons" seen in those experiments are actually vortex rings. We numerically calculate the periods of oscillation for the vortex rings as a function of interaction strength, trap aspect ratio, and minimum vortex ring radius. In the presence of axial anisotropies the rings undergo complicated internal dynamics where they break into sets of vortex lines, then later combine into rings. These structures oscillate with a similar frequency to simple axially symmetric rings.