paper

Half-quantum vortex generation in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate by an oscillatory magnetic obstacle

arXiv:2304.11786 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.107.053304

Abstract

We numerically investigate the dynamics of vortex generation in a two-dimensional, twocomponent Bose-Einstein condensate subjected to an oscillatory magnetic obstacle. The obstacle creates both repulsive and attractive Gaussian potentials for the two symmetric spin- and components, respectively. We demonstrate that, as the oscillating frequency f increases, two distinct critical dynamics arise in the generation of half-quantum vortices (HQVs) with different spin circulations. Spin- vortices are nucleated directly from the moving obstacle at low f, while spin- vortices are created at high f by breaking a spin wave pulse in front of the obstacle. We find that vortex generation is suppressed for sufficiently weak obstacles, in agreement with recent experimental results by Kim et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 095302 (2021)]. This suppression is caused by the finite sweeping distance of the oscillating obstacle and the reduction in friction in a supersonic regime. Finally, we show that the characteristic length scale of the HQV generation dynamics is determined by the spin healing length of the system.

8 pages, 7 figures

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