Vortex lattices in a stirred Bose-Einstein condensate
arXiv:cond-mat/0004037 · doi:10.1080/09500340008232191
Abstract
We stir with a focused laser beam a Bose-Einstein condensate of $^{87}$Rb atoms confined in a magnetic trap. We observe the formation of a single vortex for a stirring frequency exceeding a critical value. At larger rotation frequencies we produce states of the condensate for which up to eleven vortices are simultaneously present. We present measurements of the decay of a vortex array once the stirring laser beam is removed.