Superfluid-to-Solid Crossover in a Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate

Published

November 1, 2001

Author(s)

D L. Feder, Charles W. Clark

Abstract

The properties of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a prolate cylindrically symmetric trap are explored both analytically and numerically. As the rotation frequency increases, an ever greater number of vortices are energetically favored. Though the cloud anisotropy and moment of inertia approach those of a classical fluid at high frequencies, the observed vortex density is consistently lower than the solid-body estimate. Furthermore, the vortices are found to arrange themselves in highly regular triangular arrays, with little distortion even near the condensate surface. These results are shown to be a direct consequence of the inhomogeneous confining potential.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Volume

87

Issue

No. 19

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Bose-Einstein condensation, finite temperature, many-body theories

Citation

Feder, D. and Clark, C. (2001), Superfluid-to-Solid Crossover in a Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate, Physical Review Letters (Accessed October 30, 2025)