Observation of Vortex Dipoles in an Oblate Bose-Einstein Condensate
- College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States)
- Jack Dodd Centre for Quantum Technology, Department of Physics, University of Otago, Post Office Box 56, Dunedin (New Zealand)
- University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics, ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics, Queensland 4072 (Australia)
We report experimental observations and numerical simulations of the formation, dynamics, and lifetimes of single and multiply charged quantized vortex dipoles in highly oblate dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). We nucleate pairs of vortices of opposite charge (vortex dipoles) by forcing superfluid flow around a repulsive Gaussian obstacle within the BEC. By controlling the flow velocity we determine the critical velocity for the nucleation of a single vortex dipole, with excellent agreement between experimental and numerical results. We present measurements of vortex dipole dynamics, finding that the vortex cores of opposite charge can exist for many seconds and that annihilation is inhibited in our trap geometry. For sufficiently rapid flow velocities, clusters of like-charge vortices aggregate into long-lived multiply charged dipolar flow structures.
- OSTI ID:
- 21410634
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 16; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.160401; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANNIHILATION
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CRITICAL VELOCITY
DIPOLES
NUCLEATION
SUPERFLUIDITY
TRAPPING
VORTICES
INTERACTIONS
MULTIPOLES
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
SIMULATION
VELOCITY