Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in an atomic superfluid

Abstract

We demonstrate an experimentally feasible method for generating the classical Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a single component atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. By progressively reducing a potential barrier between two counter-flowing channels we seed a line of quantised vortices, which precede to form progressively larger clusters, mimicking the classical roll-up behaviour of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. This cluster formation leads to an effective superfluid shear layer, formed through the collective motion of many quantised vortices. From this we demonstrate a straightforward method to measure the effective viscosity of a turbulent quantum fluid in a system with a moderate number of vortices, within the range of current experimental capabilities.

7 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (20)

• Metastability of quantum droplet clusters
• Crystallization of Bosonic Quantum Hall States
• Parametrically excited star-shaped patterns at the interface of binary Bose-Einstein condensates
• Connecting shear-flow and vortex array instabilities in annular atomic superfluids
• Pattern formation of quantum Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in binary superfluids
• Persistent current formation in double-ring geometries
• Instabilities of vortex-ring-bright soliton in trapped binary 3D Bose-Einstein condensates
• Nonlinear dynamics of Josephson vortices in merging superfluid rings
• Symmetry breaking in interacting ring-shaped superflows of Bose-Einstein condensates
• Massive superfluid vortices and vortex necklaces on a planar annulus
• Optimizing persistent currents in a ring-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate using machine learning
• Suppression of the superfluid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability due to massive vortex cores, friction and confinement
• Interplay of Kelvin-Helmholtz and superradiant instabilities of an array of quantized vortices in a two-dimensional Bose--Einstein condensate
• Miscibility regimes in a ${}^{23}$Na-${}^{39}$K quantum mixture
• Diffusion of Quantum Vortices
• Stationary states, dynamical stability, and vorticity of Bose-Einstein condensates in tilted rotating harmonic traps
• Dynamical signature of vortex mass in Fermi superfluids
• Probing Superfluidity with Quantum Vortex Necklaces
• Bosonic quantum Hall droplets in rapidly rotating two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates
• Crow instability of vortex lines in dipolar superfluids