d-wave collapse and explosion of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

TL;DR

This paper studies the collapse and explosion dynamics of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate of chromium atoms, revealing anisotropic explosion behavior and vortex ring formation through experiments and 3D simulations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental and numerical analysis of collapse dynamics in dipolar BECs, highlighting anisotropic explosion patterns and vortex ring creation.

Findings

Collapse occurs when contact interactions are reduced below a critical value.

Anisotropic, d-wave symmetric explosion observed during collapse.

Formation of vortex rings with opposite circulations during collapse.

Abstract

We investigate the collapse dynamics of a dipolar condensate of 52Cr atoms when the s-wave scattering length characterizing the contact interaction is reduced below a critical value. A complex dynamics, involving an anisotropic, d-wave symmetric explosion of the condensate, is observed. The atom number decreases abruptly during the collapse. We find good agreement between our experimental results and those of a numerical simulation of the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation, including contact and dipolar interactions as well as three-body losses. The simulation indicates that the collapse induces the formation of two vortex rings with opposite circulations.