Observation of vortex pinning in Bose-Einstein condensates

We report the observation of vortex pinning in rotating gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates. Vortices are pinned to columnar pinning sites created by a corotating optical lattice superimposed on the rotating Bose-Einstein condensates. We study the effects of two types of optical lattice: triangular and square. In both geometries we see an orientation locking between the vortex and the optical lattices. At sufficient intensity the square optical lattice induces a structural crossover in the vortex lattice.     

Detecting the topological charge of vortex beams using an annular triangle aperture

The Fraunhofer diffraction pattern of a vortex beam by an annular triangle aperture is analyzed theoretically and experimentally. It is found that the pattern of the far-field diffraction intensity distribution exhibits a triangular lattice array, which becomes much clearer with the increase of the ratio of the inner to the outer side of the annular triangle aperture. The number of spot points of any external side of the triangular lattice array minus one is just equal to the topological charge value of the measured optical vortex. For the vortex beam with negative topological charge, the triangular diffraction pattern after the annular triangle aperture will be rotated by 180° in relation to the case of the positive topological charge. Based on the above properties, we propose a simple and feasible method to determine the magnitude and sign of the topological charge of an optical vortex beam.     

Fundamental and vortex solitons in a two-dimensional optical lattice

Fundamental and vortex solitons in a two-dimensional optically induced waveguide array are reported. In the strong localization regime the fundamental soliton is largely confined to one lattice site, whereas the vortex state comprises four fundamental modes superimposed in a square configuration with a phase structure that is topologically equivalent to the conventional vortex. However, in the weak localization regime, both the fundamental and the vortex solitons spread over many lattice sites. We further show that fundamental and the vortex solitons are stable against small perturbations in the strong localization regime.     

Evolution of the vortex state in the BCS-BEC crossover of a quasi two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gas

We use the path-integral formalism to investigate the vortex properties of a quasi-two dimensional(2D) Fermi superfluid system trapped in an optical lattice potential.Within the framework of mean-field theory,the cooper pair density,the atom number density,and the vortex core size are calculated from weakly interacting BCS regime to strongly coupled while weakly interacting BEC regime.Numerical results show that the atoms gradually penetrate into the vortex core as the system evolves from BEC to BCS regime.Meanwhile,the presence of the optical lattice allows us to analyze the vortex properties in the crossover from three-dimensional(3D) to 2D case.Furthermore,using a simple re-normalization procedure,we find that the two-body bound state exists only when the interaction is stronger than a critical one denoted by G_c which is obtained as a function of the lattice potential's parameter.Finally,we investigate the vortex core size and find that it grows with increasing interaction strength.In particular,by analyzing the behavior of the vortex core size in both BCS and BEC regimes,we find that the vortex core size behaves quite differently for positive and negative chemical potentials.     

Dynamical vortex phases in a Bose-Einstein condensate driven by a rotating optical lattice

We present simulation results of the vortex dynamics in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a rotating optical lattice. Changing the potential amplitude and the relative rotation frequency between the condensate and the optical lattice, we find a rich variety of dynamical phases of vortices. The onset of these different phases is described by the force balance of a driving force, a pinning force, and vortex-vortex interactions. In particular, when the optical lattice rotates faster than the condensate, an incommensurate effect leads to a vortex-liquid phase supported by the competition between the driving force and the dissipation.     

Stable ring-profile vortex solitons in bessel optical lattices

Stable ring-profile vortex solitons, featuring a bright shape, appear to be very rare in nature. However, here we show that they exist and can be made dynamically stable in defocusing cubic nonlinear media with an imprinted Bessel optical lattice. We find the families of vortex solitons and reveal their salient properties, including the conditions required for their stability. We show that the higher the soliton topological charge, the deeper the lattice modulation necessary for stabilization.     

Asymmetric vortex solitons in nonlinear periodic lattices

We reveal the existence of asymmetric vortex solitons in ideally symmetric periodic lattices and show how such nonlinear localized structures describing elementary circular flows can be analyzed systematically using the energy-balance relations. We present the examples of rhomboid, rectangular, and triangular vortex solitons on a square lattice and also describe novel coherent states where the populations of clockwise and anticlockwise vortex modes change periodically due to a nonlinearity-induced momentum exchange through the lattice. Asymmetric vortex solitons are expected to exist in different nonlinear lattice systems, including optically induced photonic lattices, nonlinear photonic crystals, and Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices.     

磁通格子的有序-无序相变和反向熔化

考虑了无序钉扎、热涨落和磁通互作用, 用Monte Carlo分子动力学模拟方法研究二维磁通格子在无序钉扎强度和温度空间的相图, 以及由布拉格玻璃相到非晶磁通玻璃相和到磁通液体相的有序-无序相变.为了决定磁通格子的序，计算了静态结构因子和磁通格子位形的有限尺寸指数.计算结果表明，Bragg玻璃相在低温的无序磁通玻璃相和高温的磁通液体相之间 , 表现出磁通格子的反向熔化行为.分析后认为，这一反向熔化行为起因于磁通之间互作用的温度效应. 关键词： Ⅱ类超导体 磁通格子 相图 结构因子 反向熔化     

Composite vortex beams by coaxial superposition of Laguerre–Gaussian beams

We propose the generation of novel composite vortex beams by coaxial superposition of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beams with common waist position and waist parameter. Computer-generated holography by conjugate-symmetric extension is applied to produce the holograms of several composite vortex beams. Utilizing the holograms, fantastic light modes including optical ring lattice, double dark-ring and double bright-ring composite vortex beams etc. are numerically reconstructed. The generated composite vortex beams show diffraction broadening with some of them showing dynamic rotation around beam centers while propagating. Optical experiments based on a computer-controlled spatial light modulator (SLM) verify the numerical results. These novel composite vortex beams possess more complicated distribution and more controllable parameters for their potential application in comparison to conventional optical ring lattice.     

Tunable optical vortex arrays using spontaneous periodic pattern formation in nematic liquid crystal cells

Controllable liquid crystal (LC) defects can provide an effective approach to creating tunable optical vortices. We develop a method to create tunable matter vortex arrays in an LC cell, in which +1 and −1 defects are periodically arranged in a square grid lattice. Spontaneous formation of the periodic defect array is achieved using a spontaneous standing pressure wave without using any patterned electrode or patterned alignment layer. The +1 and −1 defects in the array can induce optical vortices with opposite handedness, and the matter vortex array produces a periodic optical vortex array with orbital angular momenta of −2ℏ and +2ℏ in the same grid lattice. Because the pitch of the grid can be controlled, the method can provide a useful pathway to producing tunable optical vortex arrays for various applications such as advanced optical communication and quantum computation.     

Structural phase transitions of vortex matter in an optical lattice

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.     

Vortex splitting in the interference effect for a quantized vortex released from an optical lattice

For a quantized vortex in a harmonic trap and an optical lattice, we study the interference effect after the combined potentials are switched off. Both numerical and analytical calculations show that there is a vortex splitting in the interference effect of this freely expanding quantum gas, i.e. every interference peak is also a quantized vortex. The experimental scheme to verify this interference effect is discussed.     

Observation of polychromatic vortex solitons

We demonstrate experimentally the formation of polychromatic single- and double-charge optical vortex solitons by employing a lithium niobate crystal as a nonlinear medium with defocusing nonlinearity. We study the wavelength dependence of the vortex core localization and observe self-trapping of polychromatic vortices with a bandwidth spanning over more than 70 nm for single-charge and 180 nm for double-charge vortex solitons.     

Polarization vortex spatial optical solitons in Bessel optical lattices

We investigate the formation of polarization vortex spatial optical solitons in optical lattice induced by a non-diffracting Bessel beam. The properties of these solitons in zeroth-order and first-order Bessel lattices with focusing and defocusing Kerr nonlinearity are discussed. It is found that these solitons have some analogies with phase vortex solitons carrying single positive or negative topological charge in these lattices. Besides, these polarization vortex solitons have complicated dynamical characteristic and can be stabilized in some parameter region.     

Transfer and storage of vortex states in light and matter waves

We theoretically explore the transfer of vortex states between atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and optical pulses using ultraslow and stopped light techniques. We find shining a coupling laser on a rotating two-component ground state condensate with a vortex lattice generates a probe laser field with optical vortices. We also find that optical vortex states can be robustly stored in the atomic superfluids for times, in Rb-87 condensates, limited only by the ground state coherence time.     

Theory of pairing symmetry in the vortex states

We investigate pairing symmetry in an Abrikosov vortex and vortex lattice. It is shown that the Cooper pair wave function at the center of an Abrikosov vortex with vorticity m has a different parity with respect to frequency from that in the bulk if m is an odd number, while it has the same parity if m is an even number. As a result, in a conventional vortex with m = 1, the local density of states at the Fermi energy has a maximum (minimum) at the center of the vortex core in an even (odd)-frequency superconductor. In the vortex lattice of s-wave superconductor, we find that only odd-frequency pairing is present at the core centers, while at the midpoint of the vortex lines, only even-frequency pairing exists. Thus, the odd and even-frequency pairings also form the lattice in the vortex lattice state. We also propose a scanning tunneling microscope experiment using a superconducting tip to explore odd-frequency superconductivity.     

Observation of discrete vortex solitons in optically induced photonic lattices

We report on the first experimental observation of discrete vortex solitons in two-dimensional optically induced photonic lattices. We demonstrate strong stabilization of an optical vortex by the lattice in a self-focusing nonlinear medium and study the generation of the discrete vortices from a broad class of singular beams.     

Photonic band gap via quantum coherence in vortex lattices of Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the optical response of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate with a vortex lattice. We find that it is possible for the vortex lattice to act as a photonic crystal and create photonic band gaps, by enhancing the refractive index of the condensate via a quantum coherent scheme. If high enough index contrast between the vortex core and the atomic sample is achieved, a photonic band gap arises depending on the healing length and the lattice spacing. A wide range of experimentally accessible parameters are examined and band gaps in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum are found. We also show how directional band gaps can be used to directly measure the rotation frequency of the condensate.     

Measuring vortex charge with a triangular aperture

A triangular aperture illuminated with a vortex beam creates a truncated lattice diffraction pattern that identifies the charge of the vortex. In this Letter, we demonstrate the measurement of vortex charge via this approach for vortex beams up to charge ±7. We also demonstrate the use of this technique for measuring femtosecond vortices and noninteger vortices, comparing these results with numerical modeling. It is shown that this technique is simple and reliable, but care must be taken when interpreting the results for the noninteger case.