Kenichi Kasamatsu

Vortex lattice formation in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the dynamics of vortex lattice formation of a rotating trapped Bose-Einstein condensate by numerically solving the two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and find that the condensate undergoes elliptic deformation, followed by unstable surface-mode excitations before forming a quantized vortex lattice. The origin of the peculiar surface-mode excitations is identified to be phase fluctuations at the low-density surface regime, The obtained dependence of a distortion parameter on time and that on the driving frequency agree with the recent experiments by Madison et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4443 (2001)].

Nonlinear dynamics of vortex lattice formation in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the response of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate to a sudden turn on of a rotating drive by numerically solving the two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. A weakly anisotropic rotating potential excites a quadrupole shape oscillation and its time evolution is analyzed by a quasiparticle projection method. In a quadrupolar resonant regime, which depends on the trap anisotropy, simple periodic oscillations in surface-mode populations disappear and the system exhibits stochastic dynamics. In the presence of the phenomenological dissipation, an initially irrotational condensate is found to undergo damped elliptic deformation followed by unstable surface ripple excitations, some of which develop into quantized vortices that eventually form a lattice. Recent experimental results on the vortex nucleation should be explained not only by the dynamical instability but also by the Landau instability; the latter is necessary for the vortices to penetrate into the condensate.

VORTICES IN MULTICOMPONENT BOSE–EINSTEIN CONDENSATES

We review the topic of quantized vortices in multicomponent Bose–Einstein condensates of dilute atomic gases, with an emphasis on the two-component condensates. First, we review the fundamental structure, stability and dynamics of a single vortex state in a slowly rotating two-component condensates. To understand recent experimental results, we use the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations and the generalized nonlinear sigma model. An axisymmetric vortex state, which was observed by the JILA group, can be regarded as a topologically trivial skyrmion in the pseudospin representation. The internal, coherent coupling between the two components breaks the axisymmetry of the vortex state, resulting in a stable vortex molecule (a meron pair). We also mention unconventional vortex states and monopole excitations in a spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensate. Next, we discuss a rich variety of vortex states realized in rapidly rotating two-component Bose–Einstein condensates. We introduce a phase diagram with axes of rotatio...

Giant hole and circular superflow in a fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

A fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a quadratic-plus-quartic potential is found to dynamically generate a ``giant vortex that absorbs all phase singularities into a central low density hole, thereby sustaining a quasi-one-dimensional circular superflow at a supersonic speed.

Vortex Phase Diagram in Rotating Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensates

We investigate the structure of vortex states in rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with equal intracomponent but varying intercomponent-coupling constants. A phase diagram in the intercomponent-coupling versus rotation-frequency plane reveals rich equilibrium structures of vortex states. As the ratio of intercomponent to intracomponent couplings increases, the interlocked vortex lattices undergo phase transitions from triangular to square, to double-core lattices, and eventually develop interwoven serpentine vortex sheets with each component made up of chains of singly quantized vortices.

Multiple domain formation induced by modulation instability in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates.

The dynamics of multiple domain formation caused by the modulation instability of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in an axially symmetric trap are studied by numerically integrating the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The modulation instability induced by the intercomponent mean-field coupling occurs in the out-of-phase fluctuation of the wave function and leads to the formation of multiple domains that alternate from one domain to another, where the phase of one component jumps across the density dips where the domains of the other exist. This behavior is analogous to a soliton train, which explains the origin of the long lifetime of the spin domains observed by Miesner et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2228 (1999)]].

Vortex Molecules in Coherently Coupled Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensates

A vortex molecule is predicted in rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates whose internal hyperfine states are coupled coherently by an external field. A vortex in one component and one in the other are connected by a domain wall of the relative phase, constituting a vortex molecule, which features a nonaxisymmetric (pseudo)spin texture with a pair of merons. The binding mechanism of the vortex molecule is discussed based on a generalized nonlinear sigma model and a variational ansatz. The anisotropy of vortex molecules is caused by the difference in the scattering lengths, yielding a distorted vortex-molecule lattice in fast rotating condensates.

Modulation instability and solitary-wave formation in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate nonlinear dynamics induced by the modulation instability of a two-component mixture in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The nonlinear dynamics is examined using numerical simulations of the time-dependent coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The unstable modulation grows from initially miscible condensates into various types of vector solitary waves, depending on the combinations of the sign of the coupling constants (intracomponent and intercomponent). We discuss the detailed features of the modulation instability, dynamics of solitary wave formation, and an analogy with the collapsing dynamics in a single-component condensate with attractive interactions.

Spin textures in rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate two kinds of coreless vortices with axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric configurations in rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates. Starting from the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional in a rotating frame, we derive a nonlinear sigma model generalized to the two-component condensates. In terms of a pseudospin representation, an axisymmetric vortex and a nonaxisymmetric one correspond to spin textures referred to as a ``skyrmion and a ``meron-pair, respectively. A variational method is used to investigate the dependence of the sizes of the stable spin textures on system parameters, and the optimized variational function is found to reproduce well the numerical solution. In the SU(2) symmetric case, the optimal skyrmion and meron-pair are degenerate and transform to each other by a rotation of the pseudospin. An external rf field that couples coherently the hyperfine states of two components breaks the degeneracy in favor of the meron-pair texture due to an effective transverse pseudomagnetic field. The difference between the intracomponent and intercomponent interactions yields a longitudinal pseudomagnetic field and a ferromagnetic or an antiferromagnetic pseudospin interaction, leading to a meron-pair texture with an anisotropic distribution of vorticity.

Interaction of half-quantized vortices in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the asymptotic interaction between two half-quantized vortices in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates. When two vortices in different components are placed at distance 2R, the leading order of the force between them is found to be (lnR/{xi}-1/2)/R{sup 3}, in contrast to 1/R between vortices placed in the same component. We derive it analytically using the Abrikosov ansatz and the profile functions of the vortices, confirmed numerically with the Gross-Pitaevskii model. We also find that the short-range cutoff of the intervortex potential linearly depends on the healing length.