Vortex solitons in dipolar Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper predicts and analyzes vortex solitons in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates, demonstrating their existence and stability for certain conditions, and revealing the instability of higher-charge vortices.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of vortex solitons in dipolar BECs with inverted dipole interactions and confirms their stability through 3D simulations.

Findings

Vortex solitons with topological charges 1 and 2 are predicted.

Stable vortex solitons with charge 1 are confirmed by simulations.

Higher-charge vortices are unstable and tend to split.

Abstract

We predict solitary vortices in quasi-planar condensates of dipolar atoms, polarized parallel to the confinement direction, with the effective sign of the dipole-dipole interaction inverted by means of a rapidly rotating field. Energy minima corresponding to vortex solitons with topological charges ${% \ell}=1$ and 2 are predicted for moderately strong dipole-dipole interaction, using an axisymmetric Gaussian ansatz. The stability of the solitons with $\ell =1$ is confirmed by full 3D simulations, whereas their counterparts with $\ell =2$ are found to be unstable against splitting into a set of four fragments (quadrupole).