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Vortices in attractive Bose-Einstein condensates in two dimensions
1Physics Department, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|August 16, 2006
Summary
Quantum vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions appear as ring bright solitons. These stable and unstable states in confined geometries suggest experimental observation possibilities.
Area of Science:
- Quantum physics
- Atomic physics
- Condensed matter physics
Background:
- Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are quantum states of matter.
- Vortices are topological defects in superfluids.
- Attractive interactions in BECs lead to different phenomena than repulsive ones.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the form and stability of quantum vortices in BECs with attractive atomic interactions.
- To investigate the properties of these vortices as generalizations of Townes solitons.
- To explore the existence of radially excited states in such systems.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for attractive BECs.
- Investigation of stationary states and their stability properties.
- Examination of vortex solutions in confined geometries.
Main Results:
- Quantum vortices in attractive BECs manifest as ring bright solitons.
- These solitons generalize the Townes soliton to non-zero winding numbers (m).
- An infinite sequence of radially excited stationary states, characterized by concentric matter-wave rings and nodes, exists for each m.
- Both stable and unstable regimes for these vortices can be achieved in confined geometries.
Conclusions:
- The study elucidates the nature of quantum vortices in attractive Bose-Einstein condensates.
- Radially excited states, distinct from those in repulsive condensates, are predicted.
- The findings suggest that these vortices and their excited states are experimentally observable in 2D attractive BECs.
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