Optical Generation of Vortices in trapped Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a numerical method for efficiently generating vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates using phase imprinting with a laser pulse and proposes an interference detection technique for vortices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel phase imprinting technique for vortex creation in BECs and suggests an interference-based detection method, considering experimental imperfections.

Findings

Successful numerical demonstration of vortex generation via phase imprinting.

Proposed interference method for vortex detection in BECs.

Consideration of experimental imperfections in simulations.

Abstract

We demonstrate numerically the efficient generation of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) by using a ``phase imprinting'' method. The method consist of passing a far off resonant laser pulse through an absorption plate with azimuthally dependent absorption coefficient, imaging the laser beam onto a BEC, and thus creating the corresponding non-dissipative Stark shift potential and condensate phase shift. In our calculations we take into account experimental imperfections. We also propose an interference method to detect vortices by coherently pushing part of the condensate using optically induced Bragg scattering.