TY - JOUR
T1 - Decay of a Quantum Knot
AU - Ollikainen, T.
AU - Blinova, A.
AU - Möttönen, M.
AU - Hall, D. S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.
PY - 2019/10/16
Y1 - 2019/10/16
N2 - We experimentally study the dynamics of quantum knots in a uniform magnetic field in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. The knot is created in the polar magnetic phase, which rapidly undergoes a transition toward the ferromagnetic phase in the presence of the knot. The magnetic order becomes scrambled as the system evolves, and the knot disappears. Strikingly, over long evolution times, the knot decays into a polar-core spin vortex, which is a member of a class of singular SO(3) vortices. The polar-core spin vortex is stable with an observed lifetime comparable to that of the condensate itself. The structure is similar to that predicted to appear in the evolution of an isolated monopole defect, suggesting a possible universality in the observed topological transition.
AB - We experimentally study the dynamics of quantum knots in a uniform magnetic field in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. The knot is created in the polar magnetic phase, which rapidly undergoes a transition toward the ferromagnetic phase in the presence of the knot. The magnetic order becomes scrambled as the system evolves, and the knot disappears. Strikingly, over long evolution times, the knot decays into a polar-core spin vortex, which is a member of a class of singular SO(3) vortices. The polar-core spin vortex is stable with an observed lifetime comparable to that of the condensate itself. The structure is similar to that predicted to appear in the evolution of an isolated monopole defect, suggesting a possible universality in the observed topological transition.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073818344&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.163003
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.163003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073818344
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 123
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 16
M1 - 163003
ER -