title: Vortex formation in a stirred bose-einstein condensate
abstract: Using a focused laser beam we stir a Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb confined in a magnetic trap and observe the formation of a vortex for a stirring frequency exceeding a critical value. At larger rotation frequencies we produce states of the condensate for which up to four vortices are simultaneously present. We have also measured the lifetime of the single vortex state after turning off the stirring laser beam.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Departement de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Superieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Madison
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chevy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wohlleben
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dalibard