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arXiv:cond-mat/0108019 · Physical Review Letters

Superfluid-to-Solid Crossover in a Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate

David L. Feder, Charles W. Clark

Published Oct 17, 2001• 48 citations
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Abstract

The properties of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a prolate cylindrically symmetric trap are explored both analytically and numerically. As the rotation frequency increases, an ever greater number of vortices are energetically favored. Though the cloud anisotropy and moment of inertia approach those of a classical fluid at high frequencies, the observed vortex density is consistently lower than the solid-body estimate. Furthermore, the vortices are found to arrange themselves in highly regular triangular arrays, with little distortion even near the condensate surface. These results are shown to be a direct consequence of the inhomogeneous confining potential.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.87.190401

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The properties of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a prolate cylindrically symmetric trap are explored both analytically and numerically. As the rotation frequency increases, an ever greater number of vortices are energetically favored. Though the cloud anisotropy and moment of inertia approach those of a classical fluid at high frequencies, the observed vortex density is consistently lower than the solid-body estimate. Furthermore, the vortices are found to arrange themselves in highly regular triangular arrays, with little distortion even near the condensate surface. These results are shown to be a direct consequence of the inhomogeneous confining potential.
We study vortices in a radially inhomogeneous superfluid, as realized by a trapped degenerate Bose gas in a uniaxially symmetric potential. We show that, in contrast to a homogeneous superfluid, an off-axis vortex corresponds to an anisotropic superflow whose profile strongly depends on the distance to the trap axis. One consequence of this superflow anisotropy is vortex precession about the trap axis in the absence of an imposed rotation. In the complementary regime of a finite prescribed rotation, we compute the minimum-energy vortex density, showing that in the rapid-rotation limit it is extremely uniform, despite a strongly inhomogeneous (nearly) Thomas-Fermi condensate density ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}(r)$. The weak radially dependent contribution $[\ensuremath{\propto}{\ensuremath{\nabla}}^{2}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ln}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}(r)]$ to the vortex distribution, that vanishes with the number of vortices Nv{N}_{v}Nv​ as 1∕Nv1∕{N}_{v}1∕Nv​, arises from the interplay between vortex quantum discreteness (namely their inability to faithfully support the imposed rigid-body rotation) and the inhomogeneous superfluid density. This leads to an enhancement of the vortex density at the center of a typical concave trap, a prediction that is in quantitative agreement with recent experiments. One striking consequence of the inhomogeneous vortex distribution is an azimuthally directed, radially shearing superflow.
We study the vortex lattices in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a rotating anisotropic harmonic trap. We first investigate the single-particle wave functions obtained by the exact solution of the problem and give simple expressions for these wave functions in the small anisotropy limit. Depending on the strength of the interactions, a few or a large number of vortices can be formed. In the limit of many vortices, we calculate the density profile of the cloud and show that the vortex lattice stays triangular. We also find that the vortex lattice planes align themselves with the weak axis of the external potential. For a small number of vortices, we numerically solve the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and find vortex configurations that are very different from the vortex configurations in an axisymmetric rotating trap.
We calculate the critical rotation frequency at which a vortex state becomes energetically favorable over the vortex-free ground state in a harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate whose atoms have dipole-dipole interactions as well as the usual sss-wave contact interactions. In the Thomas-Fermi (hydrodynamic) regime, dipolar condensates in oblate cylindrical traps (with the dipoles aligned along the axis of symmetry of the trap) tend to have lower critical rotation frequencies than their purely sss-wave contact interaction counterparts. The converse is true for dipolar condensates in prolate traps. Quadrupole excitations and center of mass motion are also briefly discussed as possible competing mechanisms to a vortex as means by which superfluids with partially attractive interactions might carry angular momentum.
We study a harmonically confined Bose-Einstein condensate under rotation. Vortex lattice configurations are investigated through a variational approach. Vortices with more than a unit of angular momentum are not stable. We explicitly show that the critical rotational frequency is quite small, as was reported in a recent experiment, with an asymmetric harmonic confining potential. The width of the condensate along the z direction (the anisotropy direction) and in the xy plane and the vortex density are determined as functions of the rotational frequency. The aspect ratio becomes small for large rotational frequencies, making the condensate an effectively two-dimensional system.
After reviewing the ideal Bose-Einstein gas in a box and in a harmonic trap, the effect of interactions on the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate are discussed, along with the dynamics of small-amplitude perturbations (the Bogoliubov equations). When the condensate rotates with angular velocity $\ensuremath{\Omega}$, one or several vortices nucleate, leading to many observable consequences. With more rapid rotation, the vortices form a dense triangular array, and the collective behavior of these vortices has additional experimental implications. For $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ near the radial trap frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$, the lowest-Landau-level approximation becomes applicable, providing a simple picture of such rapidly rotating condensates. Eventually, as $\ensuremath{\Omega}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$, the rotating dilute gas is expected to undergo a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to various highly correlated (nonsuperfluid) states analogous to those familiar from the fractional quantum Hall effect for electrons in a strong perpendicular magnetic field.
The nucleation of vortices and the resulting structures of vortex arrays in dilute, trapped, zero-temperature Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated numerically. Vortices are generated by rotating a three-dimensional, anisotropic harmonic atom trap. The condensate ground state is obtained by propagating the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in imaginary time. Vortices first appear at a rotation frequency significantly larger than the critical frequency for vortex stabilization, consistent with a critical velocity mechanism for vortex nucleation. At higher frequencies, the structures of the vortex arrays are strongly influenced by trap geometry.