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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 86 » Issue 20
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4443–4446 (2001)

Stationary States of a Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate: Routes to Vortex Nucleation

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K. W. Madison, F. Chevy, V. Bretin, and J. Dalibard*
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Département de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France

Received 2 January 2001; published in the issue dated 14 May 2001

Using a focused laser beam we stir a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a magnetic trap. We observe that the steady states of the condensate correspond to an elliptic cloud, stationary in the rotating frame. These steady states depend nonlinearly on the stirring parameters (amplitude and frequency), and various solutions can be reached experimentally depending on the path followed in this parameter space. These states can be dynamically unstable and we observe that such instabilities lead to vortex nucleation in the condensate.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4443
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4443
PACS:
03.75.Fi, 32.80.Lg, 67.40.Db

*Unité de Recherche de l'Ecole normale supérieure et de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, associée au CNRS.

 
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