Rotation of a Bose-Einstein Condensate held under a toroidal trap

TL;DR

This paper provides a numerical and analytical analysis of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate in a combined harmonic and Gaussian trap, revealing vortex lattice formation and size estimations near critical rotation speeds.

Contribution

It introduces analytical estimates for condensate size and circulation in different regimes, aligning theoretical predictions with experimental observations.

Findings

Condensate forms an annular shape with a vortex lattice.

Size and circulation increase as rotation approaches trap frequency.

Analytical estimates match experimental data.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to perform a numerical and analytical study of a rotating Bose Einstein condensate placed in a harmonic plus Gaussian trap, following the experiments of \cite{bssd}. The rotational frequency $\Omega$ has to stay below the trapping frequency of the harmonic potential and we find that the condensate has an annular shape containing a triangular vortex lattice. As $\Omega$ approaches $\omega$, the width of the condensate and the circulation inside the central hole get large. We are able to provide analytical estimates of the size of the condensate and the circulation both in the lowest Landau level limit and the Thomas-Fermi limit, providing an analysis that is consistent with experiment.