Abstract
Persistent topological defects and textures are particularly dramatic consequences of superfluidity. Among the most fascinating examples are the singular vortices arising from the rotational symmetry group SO(3), with surprising topological properties illustrated by Dirac’s famous belt trick. Despite considerable interest, controlled preparation and detailed study of vortex lines with complex internal structure in fully three-dimensional spinor systems remains an outstanding experimental challenge. Here, we propose and implement a reproducible and controllable method for creating and detecting a singular SO(3) line vortex from the decay of a non-singular spin texture in a ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensate. Our experiment explicitly demonstrates the SO(3) character and the unique spinor properties of the defect. Although the vortex is singular, its core fills with atoms in the topologically distinct polar magnetic phase. The resulting stable, coherent topological interface has analogues in systems ranging from condensed matter to cosmology and string theory.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 4772 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2019 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
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Controlled creation of a singular spinor vortex by circumventing the Dirac belt trick. / Weiss, L. S.; Borgh, M. O.; Blinova, A.; Ollikainen, Tuomas; Möttönen, Mikko; Ruostekoski, J.; Hall, D. S. (Corresponding Author).
In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, No. 1, 4772, 01.12.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlled creation of a singular spinor vortex by circumventing the Dirac belt trick
AU - Weiss, L. S.
AU - Borgh, M. O.
AU - Blinova, A.
AU - Ollikainen, Tuomas
AU - Möttönen, Mikko
AU - Ruostekoski, J.
AU - Hall, D. S.
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Persistent topological defects and textures are particularly dramatic consequences of superfluidity. Among the most fascinating examples are the singular vortices arising from the rotational symmetry group SO(3), with surprising topological properties illustrated by Dirac’s famous belt trick. Despite considerable interest, controlled preparation and detailed study of vortex lines with complex internal structure in fully three-dimensional spinor systems remains an outstanding experimental challenge. Here, we propose and implement a reproducible and controllable method for creating and detecting a singular SO(3) line vortex from the decay of a non-singular spin texture in a ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensate. Our experiment explicitly demonstrates the SO(3) character and the unique spinor properties of the defect. Although the vortex is singular, its core fills with atoms in the topologically distinct polar magnetic phase. The resulting stable, coherent topological interface has analogues in systems ranging from condensed matter to cosmology and string theory.
AB - Persistent topological defects and textures are particularly dramatic consequences of superfluidity. Among the most fascinating examples are the singular vortices arising from the rotational symmetry group SO(3), with surprising topological properties illustrated by Dirac’s famous belt trick. Despite considerable interest, controlled preparation and detailed study of vortex lines with complex internal structure in fully three-dimensional spinor systems remains an outstanding experimental challenge. Here, we propose and implement a reproducible and controllable method for creating and detecting a singular SO(3) line vortex from the decay of a non-singular spin texture in a ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensate. Our experiment explicitly demonstrates the SO(3) character and the unique spinor properties of the defect. Although the vortex is singular, its core fills with atoms in the topologically distinct polar magnetic phase. The resulting stable, coherent topological interface has analogues in systems ranging from condensed matter to cosmology and string theory.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073454637&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-019-12787-1
DO - 10.1038/s41467-019-12787-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 31619679
AN - SCOPUS:85073454637
VL - 10
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 4772
ER -