Fast rotation of a Bose-Einstein condensate.
We study the rotation of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a quadratic plus quartic potential. This trap configuration allows one to increase the rotation frequency of the gas above the trap frequency. In such a fast rotation regime we observe a dramatic change in the appearance of the quantum gas. The vortices which were easily detectable for a slower rotation become much less visible, and their surface density is well below the value expected for this rotation frequency domain. We discuss some possible tracks to account for this effect.
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Unité de Recherche de l'Ecole normale supérieure et de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, associéee au CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
Vincent
V
Bretin
Sabine
S
Stock
Yannick
Y
Seurin
Jean
J
Dalibard