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arXiv:2506.08683 · Physical Review A

Light-induced localized vortices in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates

Yakov Braver, D. Burba, Sarika Sasidharan Nair, Giedrius Žlabys, Egidijus Anisimovas, Thomas Busch, Gediminas Juzeliūnas

Published Aug 18, 2025• 2 citations
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Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/qlbm-9sps

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We demonstrate the coherent transfer of the orbital angular momentum of a photon to an atom in quantized units of h, using a 2-photon stimulated Raman process with Laguerre-Gaussian beams to generate an atomic vortex state in a Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms. We show that the process is coherent by creating superpositions of different vortex states, where the relative phase between the states is determined by the relative phases of the optical fields. Furthermore, we create vortices of charge 2 by transferring to each atom the orbital angular momentum of two photons. We subsequently use our technique to induce rotation of the condensate confined in an asymmetric, ring-shaped hybrid optical and magnetic trap. We observe the cloud rotating for up to 13 seconds, due to the superfluid character of the condensate.
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