Stable Fractional Vortices in the Cyclic States of Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper introduces methods to generate and analyze stable fractional vortices in cyclic states of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates, highlighting their potential for exploring non-Abelian topological defects.

Contribution

It proposes experimental techniques to create fractional vortices in F=2 spinor BECs and studies their stability across different trap geometries and rotation frequencies.

Findings

Identified parameter ranges for stable 1/3-vortex states.

Demonstrated feasibility of creating fractional vortices with current technology.

Explored stability conditions in various trap shapes.

Abstract

We propose methods to create fractional vortices in the cyclic state of an F = 2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate by manipulating its internal spin structure using pulsed microwave and laser fields. The stability of such vortices is studied as a function of the rotation frequency of the confining harmonic trap both in pancake and cigar shaped condensates. We find a range of parameters for which the so-called 1/3-vortex state is energetically favorable. Such fractional vortices could be created in condensates of 87Rb atoms using current experimental techniques facilitating probing of topological defects with non-Abelian statistics.