Controlled Creation and Decay of Singly-Quantized Vortices in a Polar Magnetic Phase

TL;DR

This paper investigates the creation, evolution, and decay of vortex lines in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, revealing complex vortex dynamics and phase transitions in a controlled experimental setting.

Contribution

It demonstrates controlled creation and decay of vortices in a polar magnetic phase of a BEC, combining experimental and theoretical insights into vortex dynamics.

Findings

Successful phase-imprinting of nonsingular vortices

Observation of vortex decay into singular vortices

Evidence of vortex decay into half-quantum vortices

Abstract

We experimentally and theoretically explore the creation and time evolution of vortex lines in the polar magnetic phase of a trapped spin-1 $^{87}$Rb Bose-Einstein condensate. A process of phase-imprinting a nonsingular vortex, its decay into a pair of singular spinor vortices, and a rapid exchange of magnetic phases creates a pair of three-dimensional, singular singly-quantized vortex lines with core regions that are filled with atoms in the ferromagnetic phase. Atomic interactions guide the subsequent vortex dynamics, leading to core structures that suggest the decay of the singly-quantized vortices into half-quantum vortices.