Abstract
We observed a new mechanism for vortex nucleation in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to synthetic magnetic fields. We made use of a strong synthetic magnetic field initially localized between a pair of merging BECs to rapidly create vortices in the bulk of the merged condensate. Unlike previous implementations and in agreement with our Gross–Pitaevskii equation simulations, our dynamical process rapidly injects vortices into our system’s bulk, and with initial number in excess of the system’s equilibrium vortex number.
Highlights
We observed a new mechanism for vortex nucleation in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to synthetic magnetic fields
While a few vortices were created in atomic BECs by directly engineering an appropriate atomic wavefunction [6, 7], large ensembles are typically only present in rapidly rotating systems [8,9,10,11]
For BECs with repulsive interactions, it is energetically favorable for vortices to form at the systems edge, where the low atomic density facilitates vortex nucleation
Summary
We observed a new mechanism for vortex nucleation in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to synthetic magnetic fields. For rotating BECs, vortices nucleate on the system’s periphery, migrate into the bulk and form a vortex lattice, typically a slow process.
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