Dynamical Creation of Fractionalized Vortices and Vortex Lattices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the dynamic creation of fractionalized half-quantum vortices and vortex lattices in Bose-Einstein condensates using rotating traps and pulsed magnetic potentials, revealing embedded spin-density structures.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate and observe half-quantum vortices and vortex lattices in BECs with detailed simulation results.

Findings

Half-quantum vortices can be created in rotating optical traps.

Vortex lattices exhibit embedded spin-density-wave structures.

Absorption imaging can reveal these structures in experiments.

Abstract

We investigate dynamic creation of fractionalized half-quantum vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates of sodium atoms. Our simulations show that both individual half-quantum vortices and vortex lattices can be created in rotating optical traps when additional pulsed magnetic trapping potentials are applied. We also find that a distinct periodically modulated spin-density-wave spatial structure is always embedded in square half-quantum vortex lattices; this structure can be conveniently probed by taking absorption images of ballistically expanding cold atoms in a Stern-Gerlach field.