Direct observation of vortex interactions in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

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• Tom Bienaimé (Trento)
• Friday 27 May 2016, 13:30-15:00
• Physics East 217.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Vincent Boyer.

Vortex interaction is an essential feature of fluid dynamics and plays a key role in superfluid helium, superconductors, neutron stars and magnetohydrodynamics. The interaction between vortices is crucial for understanding the formation of vortex lattices in rotating superfluids, and is the basic mechanism leading to quantum turbulence via vortex reconnection. In this talk, I will report on a new experimental technique that allows us to follow the real-time dynamics of vortex lines in a Bose-Einstein condensates both in terms of their positions and orientations. While recently our group demonstrated mostly indirect signatures of vortex interactions in terms of faster dissipation and deviation of the orbits at the crossing [1], the new technique permits us to directly observe the mechanisms describing vortex-vortex interaction in confined geometries, where boundaries plays a crucial role. I will show that the experimental observations are in good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations [2].

[1] S. Serafini, M. Barbiero, M. Debortoli, S. Donadello, F. Larcher, F. Dalfovo, G. Lamporesi, and G. Ferrari. Dynamics and interaction of vortex lines in an elongated Bose-Einstein Condensate. Phys. Rev. Lett., 115:170402, 2015.

[2] The simulations are performed by C. Barenghi and L. Galantucci from New Castle and by F. Dalfovo and R. Bisset from Trento.

This talk is part of the Cold Atoms series.

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• Bham Talks
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