Manipulation of Vortices by Localized Impurities in Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper explores how optical potentials created by focused laser beams can manipulate vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates, enabling controlled transport, trapping, and dragging of vortices within the condensate.

Contribution

It introduces a method to manipulate BEC vortices using laser-generated optical potentials and analyzes the bifurcation structure of vortex solutions in this context.

Findings

Vortices can be transported to desired locations within the trap.

Stationary laser beams can trap and capture moving vortices.

Periodic optical lattices can be used to drag vortices effectively.

Abstract

We consider the manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate vortices by optical potentials generated by focused laser beams. It is shown that for appropriate choices of the laser strength and width it is possible to successfully transport vortices to various positions inside the trap confining the condensate atoms. Furthermore, the full bifurcation structure of possible stationary single-charge vortex solutions in a harmonic potential with this type of impurity is elucidated. The case when a moving vortex is captured by a stationary laser beam is also studied, as well as the possibility of dragging the vortex by means of periodic optical lattices.