The Experimental Observation of a Superfluid Gyroscope in a dilute Bose Condensed Gas

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of a superfluid gyroscope effect in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate, demonstrating quantum angular momentum and vortex dynamics in superfluid gases.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental measurement of vortex-induced precession in a Bose-Einstein condensate, confirming quantum predictions of angular momentum per particle.

Findings

Precession rate of scissors mode measured

Angular momentum per vortex close to ħ per particle

Confirmed superfluid vortex behavior

Abstract

We have observed a superfluid gyroscope effect in a dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensate. A condensate with a vortex possesses a single quantum of angular momentum and this causes the plane of oscillation of the scissors mode to precess around the vortex line. We have measured the precession rate of the scissors oscillation. From this we deduced the angular momentum associated with the vortex line and found a value close to $\hbar$ per particle, as predicted for a superfluid.