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arXiv:0905.2694 · Physical Review A

Manipulation of vortices by localized impurities in Bose-Einstein condensates

M. C. Davis, R. Carretero-González, Zhiwei Shi, Kody J. H. Law, P. G. Kevrekidis, Brian P. Anderson

Published Aug 6, 2009• 27 citations
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Abstract

We consider the manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate vortices by optical potentials generated by focused laser beams. It is shown that for appropriate choices of the laser strength and width it is possible to successfully transport vortices to various positions inside the trap confining the condensate atoms. Furthermore, the full bifurcation structure of possible stationary single-charge vortex solutions in a harmonic potential with this type of impurity is elucidated. The case when a moving vortex is captured by a stationary laser beam is also studied, as well as the possibility of dragging the vortex by means of periodic optical lattices.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.80.023604

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We consider the manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate vortices by optical potentials generated by focused laser beams. It is shown that for appropriate choices of the laser strength and width it is possible to successfully transport vortices to various positions inside the trap confining the condensate atoms. Furthermore, the full bifurcation structure of possible stationary single-charge vortex solutions in a harmonic potential with this type of impurity is elucidated. The case when a moving vortex is captured by a stationary laser beam is also studied, as well as the possibility of dragging the vortex by means of periodic optical lattices.
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We experimentally and numerically demonstrate deterministic creation and manipulation of a pair of oppositely charged singly quantized vortices in a highly oblate Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Two identical blue-detuned, focused Gaussian laser beams that pierce the BEC serve as repulsive obstacles for the superfluid atomic gas; by controlling the positions of the beams within the plane of the BEC, superfluid flow is deterministically established around each beam such that two vortices of opposite circulation are generated by the motion of the beams, with each vortex pinned to the in situ position of a laser beam. We study the vortex creation process, and show that the vortices can be moved about within the BEC by translating the positions of the laser beams. This technique can serve as a building block in future experimental techniques to create, on-demand, deterministic arrangements of few or many vortices within a BEC for precise studies of vortex dynamics and vortex interactions.
We numerically investigate an experimentally viable method for generating and manipulating on-demand several vortices in a highly oblate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in order to initialize complex vortex distributions for studies of vortex dynamics. The method utilizes moving laser beams to generate, capture, and transport vortices inside and outside the BEC. We examine in detail this methodology and show a wide parameter range of applicability for the prototypical two-vortex case, as well as case examples of producing and manipulating several vortices for which there is no net circulation, corresponding to equal numbers of positive and negative circulation vortices, and cases for which there is one net quantum of circulation. We find that the presence of dissipation can help stabilize the pinning of the vortices on their respective laser beam pinning sites. Finally, we illustrate how to utilize laser beams as repositories that hold large numbers of vortices and how to deposit individual vortices in a sequential fashion in the repositories in order to construct superfluid flows about the repository beams with several quanta of circulation.
Abstract We investigate the influence of a rotating laser beam on the dynamics of a topological vortex excitation in single-component and binary two-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensates loaded in harmonic traps. The vortex dynamics show different characters by considering the relative position of the vortex and the laser beam and the excitations in the condensates with respect to the rotating frequency and the size of the laser beam. We show the dynamic phase diagrams of single-component condensates with radial isotropy and anisotropy and binary condensates with the vortex and the laser beam being in the same component and different components. Interesting dynamical states such as bound-state, free-state, chaotic-state, free-chaotic-state and bound-chaotic-state are identified for different systems within certain parameter regions.
We study continuous interaction of a trapped two-component Bose-Einstein condensate with light fields in a Λ -type configuration. Using light beams with orbital angular momentum, we theoretically show how to create a stable, pinned vortex configuration, where the rotating component is confined to the region surrounded by the second, nonrotating component. The atoms constituting this vortex can be localized in volumes much smaller than the volume occupied by the second component. We also show that the vortex position can be changed dynamically by moving the laser beams, provided the beams' movement speed remains below the speed of sound. This allows us to use the localized vortex to stir the second component, and to determine the superfluid flow's critical velocity.
We investigate the dynamics of vortices in repulsive Bose–Einstein condensates in the presence of an optical lattice (OL) and a parabolic magnetic trap. The dynamics is sensitive to the phase of the OL potential relative to the magnetic trap, and depends less on the OL strength. For the cosinusoidal OL potential, a local minimum is generated at the trap’s centre, creating a stable equilibrium for the vortex, while in the case of the sinusoidal potential, the vortex is expelled from the centre, demonstrating spiral motion. Cases where the vortex is created far from the trap’s centre are also studied, revealing slow outward-spiralling drift. Numerical results are explained in an analytical form by means of a variational approximation. Finally, motivated by a discrete model (which is tantamount to the case of the strong OL lattice), we present a novel type of vortex consisting of two pairs of antiphase solitons.