title: Structural phase transitions of vortex matter in an optical lattice.
abstract: We consider the vortex structure of a rapidly rotating trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a corotating periodic optical lattice potential. We observe a rich variety of structural phases which reflect the interplay of the vortex-vortex and vortex-lattice interactions. The lattice structure is very sensitive to the ratio of vortices to pinning sites and we observe structural phase transitions and domain formation as this ratio is varied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251-1892, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: L O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Baksmaty
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Bigelow