In situ imaging of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

Laboratory observations of vortex dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are essential for determination of many aspects of superfluid dynamics in these systems. We present a novel application of dark-field imaging that enables \texttt{\it in situ} detection of two-dimensional vortex distributions in single-component BECs, a step towards real-time measurements of complex two-dimensional vortex dynamics within a single BEC. By rotating a ${}^{87}$Rb BEC in a magnetic trap, we generate a triangular lattice of vortex cores in the BEC, with core diameters on the order of 400 nm and cores separated by approximately 9 $\mu$m. We have experimentally confirmed that the positions of the vortex cores can be determined without the need for ballistic expansion of the BEC.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Superfluid behaviour of a two-dimensional Bose gas
• Relaxation of superfluid turbulence in highly oblate Bose-Einstein condensates
• Inverse Energy Cascade in Forced 2D Quantum Turbulence
• Energy spectra of vortex distributions in two-dimensional quantum turbulence

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Many-Body Quantum Dynamics in the Decay of Bent Dark Solitons of Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Role of thermal friction in relaxation of turbulent Bose-Einstein condensates
• Extracting Lyapunov exponents from the echo dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates on a lattice
• Phase separation of quantized vortices in two-component miscible Bose-Einstein condensates in a two-dimensional box potential
• Modelling of vorticity, sound and their interaction in two-dimensional superfluids
• Nondestructive dispersive imaging of rotationally excited ultracold molecules
• Chaotic few-body vortex dynamics in rotating Bose--Einstein condensates
• An acoustic probe for quantum vorticity in Bose-Einstein condensates