arXiv:cond-mat/0407045 · Physical Review Letters
Dynamical Instability of a Doubly Quantized Vortex in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
Yong-il Shin, Michele Saba, Mukund Vengalattore, Thomas A. Pasquini, Christian Sanner, A. E. Leanhardt, Mara Goff Prentiss, David E. Pritchard, Wolfgang Ketterle
Abstract
Doubly quantized vortices were topologically imprinted in /F=1> 23Na condensates, and their time evolution was observed using a tomographic imaging technique. The decay into two singly quantized vortices was characterized and attributed to dynamical instability. The time scale of the splitting process was found to be longer at higher atom density.