title: Stationary states of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate: routes to vortex nucleation.
abstract: Using a focused laser beam we stir a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a magnetic trap. We observe that the steady states of the condensate correspond to an elliptic cloud, stationary in the rotating frame. These steady states depend nonlinearly on the stirring parameters (amplitude and frequency), and various solutions can be reached experimentally depending on the path followed in this parameter space. These states can be dynamically unstable and we observe that such instabilities lead to vortex nucleation in the condensate.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Département de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Madison
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chevy
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bretin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dalibard