Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)
Vortex Lattices in Highly Anisotropic Traps
Suzanne McEndoo, Thomas Busch
Abstract
Vortex lattices have become one of the most interesting areas of research in the area of cold atomic physics in recent years. When inducing a large amount of angular momentum into the ground state of a superfluid Bose-Einstein condensate, the sample responds by forming a so-called Abrikosov lattice. Within this lattice, vortices with winding number one are arranged in a triangular pattern that extends over the whole size of the sample. While the Abrikosov lattice is the exact solution for homogeneous condensates, it is also a very good solution for systems in isotropic harmonic traps. Due to the inhomogeneous potential however, the vortex lattice as a whole rotates within the trap.