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Physics

Superfluids Hit the Street

Nick G. Parker

Published Dec 7, 2016• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on the experimental observation of vortex cluster shedding from a moving obstacle in an oblate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate.At low obstacle velocities v above a critical value, vortex clusters consisting of two like-sign vortices are generated to form a regular configuration like a von Kármán street, and as v is increased, the shedding pattern becomes irregular with many different kinds of vortex clusters.In particular, we observe that the Stouhal number associated with the shedding frequency exhibits saturation behavior with increasing v.The regular-to-turbulent transition of the vortex cluster shedding reveals remarkable similarities between a superfluid and a classical viscous fluid.Our work opens a new direction for experimental investigations of the superfluid Reynolds number characterizing universal superfluid hydrodynamics.

DOI
10.1103/physics.9.143

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We report on the experimental observation of vortex cluster shedding from a moving obstacle in an oblate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate.At low obstacle velocities v above a critical value, vortex clusters consisting of two like-sign vortices are generated to form a regular configuration like a von Kármán street, and as v is increased, the shedding pattern becomes irregular with many different kinds of vortex clusters.In particular, we observe that the Stouhal number associated with the shedding frequency exhibits saturation behavior with increasing v.The regular-to-turbulent transition of the vortex cluster shedding reveals remarkable similarities between a superfluid and a classical viscous fluid.Our work opens a new direction for experimental investigations of the superfluid Reynolds number characterizing universal superfluid hydrodynamics.
We report on the experimental observation of vortex cluster shedding from a moving obstacle in an oblate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. At low obstacle velocities v above a critical value, vortex clusters consisting of two like-sign vortices are generated to form a regular configuration like a von Kármán street, and as v is increased, the shedding pattern becomes irregular with many different kinds of vortex clusters. In particular, we observe that the Stouhal number associated with the shedding frequency exhibits saturation behavior with increasing v. The regular-to-turbulent transition of the vortex cluster shedding reveals remarkable similarities between a superfluid and a classical viscous fluid. Our work opens a new direction for experimental investigations of the superfluid Reynolds number characterizing universal superfluid hydrodynamics.
Abstract We experimentally investigate the periodic vortex shedding dynamics in a highly oblate Bose–Einstein condensate using a moving penetrable Gaussian obstacle. The shedding frequency f v is measured as a function of the obstacle velocity v and characterized by a linear relationship of f v = a(v − v c) with v c being the critical velocity. The proportionality constant a is linearly decreased with a decrease in the obstacle strength, whereas v c approaches the speed of sound. When the obstacle size increases, both a and v c are decreased. We discuss a possible association of a with the Strouhal number in the context of universal shedding dynamics of a superfluid. The critical vortex shedding is further investigated for an oscillating obstacle and found to be consistent with the measured f v. When the obstacle’s maximum velocity exceeds v c but its oscillation amplitude is not large enough to create a vortex dipole, we observe that vortices are generated in the low-density boundary region of the trapped condensate, which is attributed to the phonon emission from the oscillating obstacle.
Abstract In this paper, we investigate a two-component Gross-Pitaevskii system with a moving obstacle potential, which describes the vortex shedding for an immiscible binary Bose-Einstein condensate composed of different hyperfine states of 87 Rb atoms. Numerical simulations indicate that, the Kármán vortex street is discovered in one component, while the Kármán-like vortex street named "ghost vortex street" is formed in the other. The other typical patterns of vortex shedding, such as vortex dipoles, V-shaped vortex pairs and corresponding "ghost vortex shedding", can also be found in the wake of obstacle. The instantaneous and time-averaged drag force acting on obstacle potential are calculated, which show the contribution to drag force from vortex shedding. The parameter region for various vortex patterns, critical velocity for vortex emission, and superfluid Reynolds number are presented and discussed. Finally, we provide an experimental protocol for the above realization and observation.
We show that an elliptical obstacle moving through a Bose–Einstein condensate generates wakes of quantum vortices which resemble those of classical viscous flow past a cylinder or sphere. The role of ellipticity is to facilitate the interaction of the vortices nucleated by the obstacle. Initial steady symmetric wakes lose their symmetry and form clusters of like-signed vortices, in analogy to the classical Bénard–von Kármán vortex street. Our findings, demonstrated numerically in both two and three dimensions, confirm the intuition that a sufficiently large number of quanta of circulation reproduce classical physics.
Abstract Vortex shedding from a moving obstacle potential in a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate is investigated numerically. For a miscible two-component condensate composed of 23Na and 87Rb atoms, in the wake of obstacle, the Kármán vortex street is discovered in one component, while the Kármán-like vortex street named ‘half-quantum vortex street’ is formed in another component. The other patterns of vortex shedding, such as the vortex dipoles, V-shaped vortex pairs and corresponding ‘half-quantum vortex shedding’, can also be found. The drag force acting on obstacle potential is calculated and discussed. The parameter region for various vortex patterns and critical velocity for vortex emission are presented. In addition, a 85Rb–87Rb mixture is also considered, where the Kármán vortex street and other typical patterns exist in both components. Finally, we provide an experimental protocol for the above realization and observation.