Stable Core Symmetries and Confined Textures for a Vortex Line in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

Area of Science:

• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• High Energy Physics

Background:

• Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are quantum states of matter with unique properties.
• Vortices in superfluids and condensates are topological defects with quantized circulation.
• Spin-1 BECs offer rich possibilities for emergent phenomena due to their internal spin structure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the stability and symmetry of defect cores in atomic spin-1 polar Bose-Einstein condensates.
• To explore the confinement of topologically nontrivial Skyrmion textures within these vortex cores.
• To understand the influence of Zeeman level shifts on core isotropy and texture stability.

Main Methods:

• Experimental realization of a singly quantized vortex in a spin-1 polar Bose-Einstein condensate.
• Precise control and manipulation of the condensate using magnetic fields to induce Zeeman level shifts.
• High-resolution imaging techniques to characterize the vortex core structure and confined textures.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of energetically stable defect cores with varying symmetries within the vortex.
• Successful confinement of a stable, lower-dimensional, topologically nontrivial Skyrmion texture inside the vortex core.
• Observation that core isotropy and confined texture stability are sensitive to applied Zeeman level shifts.

Conclusions:

• Atomic spin-1 polar BECs provide a versatile platform for studying complex topological defects.
• The observed vortex core structures and confined Skyrmions exhibit analogies to phenomena in superfluid $^3$He and superconducting cosmic strings.
• Control over Zeeman shifts offers a pathway to tune the properties of these emergent quantum textures.