Chaotic few-body vortex dynamics in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

Tiantian Zhang, James Schloss, Andreas Thomasen, Lee James O'Riordan, Thomas Busch, Angela White

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We investigate a small vortex-lattice system of four corotating vortices in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate and find that the vortex dynamics display chaotic behavior after a system quench introduced by reversing the direction of circulation of a single vortex through a phase-imprinting process. By tracking the vortex trajectories and Lyapunov exponent, we show the onset of chaotic dynamics is not immediate, but occurs at later times and is accelerated by the close approach and separation of all vortices in a scattering event. The techniques we develop could potentially be applied to create locally induced chaotic dynamics in larger lattice systems as a stepping stone to study the role of chaotic events in turbulent vortex dynamics.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number054701
    JournalPhysical Review Fluids
    Volume4
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2019

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Chaotic few-body vortex dynamics in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this