Pinning of Hidden Vortices in Bose-Einstein Condensate

TL;DR

This paper investigates vortex dynamics and pinning in Bose-Einstein condensates within rotating double-well and triple-well traps, revealing new hidden vortex states and their behavior consistent with experimental and numerical findings.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of hidden vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates and explores their pinning and structure in complex trap potentials, advancing understanding of vortex phenomena.

Findings

Vortex number remains finite as rotation approaches critical frequency in anisotropic double-well traps.

Critical rotational frequency matches theoretical predictions based on surface mode excitation.

Discovery of hidden vortices with phase profiles similar to visible vortices in triple-well traps.

Abstract

We study the vortex dynamics and vortex pinning effect in Bose-Einstein condensate in a rotating double-well trap potential and co-rotating optical lattice. We show that, in agreement with the experiment, the vortex number do not diverge when the rotational frequency $\Omega \rightarrow 1$ if the trap potential is of anisotropic double-well type. The critical rotational frequency as obtained from numerical simulations agrees very well with the value $\sqrt l/l$ for $l=4$ which supports the conjecture that surface modes with angular momentum $l=4$ are excited when the rotating condensate is trapped in double-well potential. The vortex lattice structure in a rotating triple-well trap potential and its pinning shows very interesting features. We show the existence and pinning of a new type of hidden vortices whose phase profile is similar to that of the visible vortices.