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Science

Following vortices around

Jelena Stajic

Published Dec 19, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Superfluidity When stirred, superfluids react by creating quantized vortices. Studying the dynamics of these vortices, especially in the strongly interacting regime, is technically challenging. Sachkou et al. developed a technique for the nondestructive tracking of vortices in thin films of superfluid helium-4. Their system contained a microtoroid optical cavity coated by a thin film of helium-4, in which vortices were created by using laser light. When imaging the subsequent dynamics of the vortices, the researchers found that coherent dynamics strongly dominated over dissipation. Science , this issue p. [1480][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaw9229

DOI
10.1126/science.366.6472.1467-g

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Superfluidity
When stirred, superfluids react by creating quantized vortices. Studying the dynamics of these vortices, especially in the strongly interacting regime, is technically challenging. Sachkou et al. developed a technique for the nondestructive tracking of vortices in thin films of superfluid helium-4. Their system contained a microtoroid optical cavity coated by a thin film of helium-4, in which vortices were created by using laser light. When imaging the subsequent dynamics of the vortices, the researchers found that coherent dynamics strongly dominated over dissipation.
Science , this issue p. 1480
When a vessel containing a superfluid is set in rotational motion, the superfluid does not rotate uniformly with it; instead, quantized vortices develop. Vortices have been observed in a range of superfluids, including helium, atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, and type II superconductors in a magnetic field. Freilich et al. (p. [1182][1]) visualized real-time vortex dynamics in the most tunable of superfluid systems, an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. A small section of condensate was displaced from the trap and imaged as it fell in the gravitational field. The technique is applicable to exploring other complex dynamic systems, such as vortex reconnections and the role of vortices in quantum turbulence. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1191224
An object can move through a superfluid without resistance provided that its speed is below a critical value; higher speeds result in the formation of vortices, which are small volumes of normal fluid and superfluid that rotate and dissipate energy. Although the dynamics of these vortices are considered to be crucial in understanding superfluidity, the strong and complex interactions of the superfluid, dissipative forces, and surface effects in most superfluids (such as liquid helium) all combine to obscure observations.
Quantized vortices are fundamental to the two-dimensional dynamics of superfluids, from quantum turbulence to phase transitions. However, surface effects have prevented direct observations of coherent two-dimensional vortex dynamics in strongly interacting systems. Here, we overcome this challenge by confining a thin film of superfluid helium at microscale on the atomically smooth surface of a silicon chip. An on-chip optical microcavity allows laser initiation of clusters of quasi-two-dimensional vortices and nondestructive observation of their decay in a single shot. Coherent dynamics dominate, with thermal vortex diffusion suppressed by five orders of magnitude. This establishes an on-chip platform with which to study emergent phenomena in strongly interacting superfluids and to develop quantum technologies such as precision inertial sensors.
The two-dimensional point vortex model was first introduced in the nineteenth century by Helmholtz and Kirchhoff.  The methods of statistical physics were used to apply it to the problem of two-dimensional fluid flow and turbulence by Onsager in the 1940s, and it has provided many qualitative insights into the emergence of large scale vortices from turbulence.  However, until recently there has been no quantitative comparison of its predictions with experimental measurements. Here we present the results of two sets of superfluid dynamics experiments for which the point vortex model provides quantitative insights.  The first is in a planar quasi-two-dimensional atomic gas Bose-Einstein condensate cooled to nanokelvin temperatures [1].  The superfluid is confined and manipulated in a potential formed by laser light reflected from a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) identical to those found in digital video projectors.   Two different stirring procedures inject vortices into the gas.  For the first stirring method the vortex number decays relatively quickly.  However, the second stirring method leads to the formation of two macroscopic vortex clusters of opposite signs.  The system quickly relaxes into a deeply negative temperature Onsager vortex state that persists in quasi-equilibrium for more than fifty cluster turnover times. The second experiment is in a superfluid helium thin film [2].  Optical stirring generates a macroscopic superfluid flow in the system that lifts the degeneracy in frequency of a number of third sound modes.  These frequency splitting are subsequently observed to decay.  Modelling the system using the point vortex model with a small amount of dissipation leads to a consistent interpretation of the measurements.  We infer that a pinned persistent current slowly decays as a cluster of opposite sign vortices slowly annihilate the central charge.  Improvements in the experimental apparatus are expected to lead to the capability of tracking the dynamics of a single vortex in real time. [1] Negative-Temperature Onsager Vortex Clusters in a Quantum Fluid, G. Gauthier, M. T. Reeves, X. Yu, A. S. Bradley, M. Baker, T. A. Bell, H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop, M. J. Davis, T. W. Neely, to appear in Science (2019). arXiv:1801.06951 [2] Coherent vortex dynamics in a strongly-interacting superfluid on a silicon chip, Yauhen P. Sachkou, Christopher G. Baker, Glen I. Harris, Oliver R. Stockdale, Stefan Forstner, Matthew T. Reeves, Xin He, David L. McAuslan, Ashton S. Bradley, Matthew J. Davis, Warwick P. Bowen. arXiv:1902.04409