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Vortex structures in atomic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates

Justin Lovegrove

Published Sep 1, 2013• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the structure and stability of vortices in spin-1 atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) in rotating, optical traps. We numerically study these vortex structures using a classical mean-field theory which allows atomic interactions to change the local expectation value of the atomic spin. Initially applying a model in which the atoms interact only via scattering which does not conserve an initial longitudinal magnetisation, we identify the energetically stable configurations of singular and nonsingular vortices via propagation in imaginary time in a rotating frame of reference. We find that the cores of singular vortices fill with atoms in the spinor BEC and show that this can be understood in terms of an energetic hierarchy of length scales. By refining the numerical model to explicitly conserve longitudinal magnetisation, we show that the conservation of a strong magnetisation can lead to a mixing of the two phases of the ground-state manifold (polar and ferromagnetic), which are characterised by the expectation value of the spin. This occurs as a result of the introduction of a new characteristic length scale determined by the longitudinal magnetisation. A surprising consequence is the stability of a ferromagnetic coreless vortex in the polar interaction regime, which otherwise is energetically unstable. We construct analytic spinor wavefunctions which parametrise the interpolation between the polar and ferromagnetic phases, exhibiting different vortex topologies in the respective phases. Finally by identifying stationary states of the system, we show how nonlocal dipoledipole interactions between atoms introduces an additional length scale determined by the strength of the dipolar interaction. The energetic hierarchy of length scales then determines whether the dipolar interactions have a significant effect on the stationary vortex structures. In particular we show how a BEC with polar interactions adopts the properties of a ferromagnetic condensate when the dipolar interactions dominate.

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We demonstrate how conservation of longitudinal magnetization can have pronounced effects on both stability and structure of vortices in the atomic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate by providing a systematic characterization of nonsingular and singular vortex states. Constructing spinor wave functions for vortex states that continuously connect ferromagnetic and polar phases, we systematically derive analytic models for nonrotating cores of different singular vortices and for composite defect states with distinct small- and large-distance topology. We explain how the conservation law provides a stabilizing mechanism when the coreless vortex imprinted on the condensate relaxes in the polar regime of interatomic interactions. The resulting structure forms a composite defect: The inner ferromagnetic coreless vortex deforms toward an outer singly quantized polar vortex. We also numerically show how other even more complex hierarchies of vortex-core topologies may be stabilized. Moreover, we analyze the structure of the coreless vortex also in a ferromagnetic condensate and show how reducing magnetization leads to a displacement of the vortex from the trap center and eventually to the deformation and splitting of its core where a singular vortex becomes a lower-energy state. For the case of singular vortices, we find that the stability and the core structure are notably less influenced by the conservation of magnetization.

arXiv:1512.06803•Physical Review A•Mar 18, 2016•29 citations

Energetically stable singular vortex cores in an atomic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate

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We analyze the structure and stability of singular singly quantized vortices in a rotating spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the singular vortex can be energetically stable in both the ferromagnetic and polar phases despite the existence of a lower-energy nonsingular coreless vortex in the ferromagnetic phase. The spin-1 system exhibits an energetic hierarchy of length scales resulting from different interaction strengths, and we find that the vortex cores deform to a larger size determined by the characteristic length scale of the spin-dependent interaction. We show that in the ferromagnetic phase the resulting stable core structure, despite apparent complexity, can be identified as a single polar core with an axially symmetric density profile which is nonvanishing everywhere. In the polar phase, the energetically favored core deformation leads to a splitting of a singly quantized vortex into a pair of half-quantum vortices that preserves the topology of the vortex outside the extended core region, but breaks the axial symmetry of the core. The resulting half-quantum vortices exhibit nonvanishing ferromagnetic cores.

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Three-dimensional vortex structures in a rotating dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate

Ramavarmaraja Kishor Kumar, Thangarasu Sriraman, Henrique Fabrelli +2 more

Abstract We study three-dimensional vortex lattice structures in purely dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). By using the mean-field approximation, we obtain a stability diagram for the vortex states in purely dipolar BECs as a function of harmonic trap aspect ratio ( λ ) and dipole–dipole interaction strength ( D ) under rotation. Rotating the condensate within the unstable region leads to collapse while in the stable region furnishes stable vortex lattices of dipolar BECs. We analyse stable vortex lattice structures by solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Gross–Pitaevskii equation in imaginary time. Further, the stability of vortex states is examined by evolution in real-time. We also investigate the distribution of vortices in a fully anisotropic trap by increasing eccentricity of the external trapping potential. We observe the breaking up of the condensate in two parts with an equal number of vortices on each when the trap is sufficiently weak, and the rotation frequency is high.

arXiv:1506.08184•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jul 5, 2016•21 citations
This thesis is concerned with the structure and stability of vortices in spin-1 atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) in rotating, optical traps. We numerically study these vortex structures using a classical mean-field theory which allows atomic interactions to change the local expectation value of the atomic spin. Initially applying a model in which the atoms interact only via scattering which does not conserve an initial longitudinal magnetisation, we identify the energetically stable configurations of singular and nonsingular vortices via propagation in imaginary time in a rotating frame of reference. We find that the cores of singular vortices fill with atoms in the spinor BEC and show that this can be understood in terms of an energetic hierarchy of length scales. By refining the numerical model to explicitly conserve longitudinal magnetisation, we show that the conservation of a strong magnetisation can lead to a mixing of the two phases of the ground-state manifold (polar and ferromagnetic), which are characterised by the expectation value of the spin. This occurs as a result of the introduction of a new characteristic length scale determined by the longitudinal magnetisation. A surprising consequence is the stability of a ferromagnetic coreless vortex in the polar interaction regime, which otherwise is energetically unstable. We construct analytic spinor wavefunctions which parametrise the interpolation between the polar and ferromagnetic phases, exhibiting different vortex topologies in the respective phases. Finally by identifying stationary states of the system, we show how nonlocal dipoledipole interactions between atoms introduces an additional length scale determined by the strength of the dipolar interaction. The energetic hierarchy of length scales then determines whether the dipolar interactions have a significant effect on the stationary vortex structures. In particular we show how a BEC with polar interactions adopts the properties of a ferromagnetic condensate when the dipolar interactions dominate.
We demonstrate how conservation of longitudinal magnetization can have pronounced effects on both stability and structure of vortices in the atomic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate by providing a systematic characterization of nonsingular and singular vortex states. Constructing spinor wave functions for vortex states that continuously connect ferromagnetic and polar phases, we systematically derive analytic models for nonrotating cores of different singular vortices and for composite defect states with distinct small- and large-distance topology. We explain how the conservation law provides a stabilizing mechanism when the coreless vortex imprinted on the condensate relaxes in the polar regime of interatomic interactions. The resulting structure forms a composite defect: The inner ferromagnetic coreless vortex deforms toward an outer singly quantized polar vortex. We also numerically show how other even more complex hierarchies of vortex-core topologies may be stabilized. Moreover, we analyze the structure of the coreless vortex also in a ferromagnetic condensate and show how reducing magnetization leads to a displacement of the vortex from the trap center and eventually to the deformation and splitting of its core where a singular vortex becomes a lower-energy state. For the case of singular vortices, we find that the stability and the core structure are notably less influenced by the conservation of magnetization.
We analyze the structure and stability of singular singly quantized vortices in a rotating spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the singular vortex can be energetically stable in both the ferromagnetic and polar phases despite the existence of a lower-energy nonsingular coreless vortex in the ferromagnetic phase. The spin-1 system exhibits an energetic hierarchy of length scales resulting from different interaction strengths, and we find that the vortex cores deform to a larger size determined by the characteristic length scale of the spin-dependent interaction. We show that in the ferromagnetic phase the resulting stable core structure, despite apparent complexity, can be identified as a single polar core with an axially symmetric density profile which is nonvanishing everywhere. In the polar phase, the energetically favored core deformation leads to a splitting of a singly quantized vortex into a pair of half-quantum vortices that preserves the topology of the vortex outside the extended core region, but breaks the axial symmetry of the core. The resulting half-quantum vortices exhibit nonvanishing ferromagnetic cores.
This thesis contains theoretical studies of weakly interacting, trapped Bose-Einstein condensed gases. The main emphasis is on the rotational properties of these systems. A typical Bose-Einstein condensate reacts to external rotation by forming singly quantized vortices. By the word ”typical” we refer to a condensate with repulsive interparticle interactions and with a frozen spin degree of freedom. However, there are some atomic species for which the low-energy interactions are attractive. Moreover, the tuning of different condensate properties is relatively easy. For example, there are ways to experimentally change the effective interaction from repulsive to attractive. For an attractively interacting condensate the vortex is not the only possible rotational state but the sample may also experience rotation through its center of mass. In the first part of the thesis, we analyze some properties of a rotating attractive Bose gas at the zero temperature limit. First, we note that in order to maintain energetical stability, the gas has to be rotated in an external trap which is steeper than a harmonic trap. We study the system in an anharmonic quadratic + quartic potential. The rotating ground state phase-space is determined with analytical and numerical methods. If the interactions are strong enough, the rotating ground state appears to be a state with the rotating center of mass. On the other hand, at the limit of weak interactions the system experiences rotation by forming a multiply quantized vortex. We also determine the spectrum of elementary excitations for these quantum many-particle states. We find that the broken symmetry of the center of mass rotating state induces an additional zero-energy (Goldstone) mode and that the small oscillations of the ground state exhibit the decoupling between the center of mass and relative motions. If the spin of the atoms is allowed to change freely, a rich variety of topological excitations in condensates can be studied. External rotation is one of the tools for examining the excitations in spinor condensates. In a spinless scalar condensate the appearance of a quantized vortex is manifested by the vortex line in which the condensate density vanishes. In the plane perpendicular to the vortex line, one speaks of the vortex core for the density minimum. We study the properties of slowly rotated F = 1 spinor condensates and show that for ferromagnetic interactions the ground state is a coreless vortex. While the individual spin components may carry ordinary vortices the overall density of the system is coreless. We also study a method to create a point-like monopole structure in a ferromagnetic condensate by suitably imprinting vortices and solitons for different spin components of the condensate.
We theoretically investigate vortex-lattice phases of rotating spinor Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC's) with a ferromagnetic spin interaction by numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The spinor BEC under slow rotation can sustain a rich variety of exotic vortices due to the multicomponent order parameters, such as Mermin-Ho and Anderson-Toulouse coreless vortices (the two-dimensional Skyrmion and meron) and nonaxisymmetric vortices with shifting vortex cores. Here, we present the spin texture of various vortex-lattice states at higher rotation rates and in the presence of an external magnetic field. In addition, the vortex phase diagram is constructed in the plane of the total magnetization MMM and the external rotation frequency $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ by comparing the free energies of possible vortices. It is shown that the vortex phase diagrams in the $M\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\Omega}$ plane may be divided into two categories: (i) the coreless vortex lattice formed by the several types of Mermin-Ho vortices and (ii) the vortex lattice filling in the cores with the pure polar (antiferromagnetic) state. In particular, it is found that the type-(ii) state forms composite lattices of coreless and polar-core vortices. The difference between type (i) and type (ii) results from the existence of the singularity of the spin textures, which may be experimentally confirmed by the spin imaging within polarized light recently proposed by Carusotto and Mueller. We also discuss the stability of triangular and square lattice states for rapidly rotating condensates.
We study the energetic and dynamic stability of coreless vortices in nonrotated spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates, trapped with a three-dimensional optical potential and a Ioffe-Pritchard field. The stability of stationary vortex states is investigated by solving the corresponding Bogoliubov equations. We show that the quasiparticle excitations corresponding to axisymmetric stationary states can be taken to be eigenstates of angular momentum in the axial direction. Our results show that coreless vortex states can occur as local or global minima of the condensate energy or become energetically or dynamically unstable depending on the parameters of the Ioffe-Pritchard field. The experimentally most relevant coreless vortex state containing a doubly quantized vortex in one of the hyperfine spin components turned out to have very nontrivial stability regions, and especially a quasiperiodic dynamic instability region which corresponds to splitting of the doubly quantized vortex.
Abstract We study three-dimensional vortex lattice structures in purely dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). By using the mean-field approximation, we obtain a stability diagram for the vortex states in purely dipolar BECs as a function of harmonic trap aspect ratio ( λ ) and dipole–dipole interaction strength ( D ) under rotation. Rotating the condensate within the unstable region leads to collapse while in the stable region furnishes stable vortex lattices of dipolar BECs. We analyse stable vortex lattice structures by solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Gross–Pitaevskii equation in imaginary time. Further, the stability of vortex states is examined by evolution in real-time. We also investigate the distribution of vortices in a fully anisotropic trap by increasing eccentricity of the external trapping potential. We observe the breaking up of the condensate in two parts with an equal number of vortices on each when the trap is sufficiently weak, and the rotation frequency is high.