Physics (Internal)

Persistent currents and vortices: The physics of "two-dimensional" Bose-Einstein condensates.

This event is part of the Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Series.

Abstract: Recent studies of both 1-D and 2-D weakly-interacting, atomic Bose-Einstein condensates have demonstrated a number of interesting phenomena including a Tonks-Girardeau gas and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless crossover, respectively. Clearly, reduced dimensionality or topological constraints enables the observation of new and interesting phenomena. I will describe recent experiments on the confinement of a sodium Bose-Einstein condensate in a toriodal-shaped trap and also in a flat optical trap to produce a ring-shaped and 2-D quantum degenerate gas, respectively. We have been able to observe a number of phenomena connected with the superfluid transition in such systems, such as persistent currents and quasi-condensate formation.