Bound-state spectrum of an impurity in a quantum vortex

Abstract

We consider the problem of finding the bound-state spectrum of an impurity immersed in a weakly interacting two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate supporting a single vortex. We obtain approximate expressions for the energy levels and show that, due to the finite size of the condensate, the impurity can access only a finite number of physical bound states. By virtue of the topological quantization of the vorticity and of the emergence of the Tkachenko lattice, this system is promising as a robust and scalable platform for the realization of qubits. Moreover, it provides a potentially new paradigm for polaron physics in Bose-Einstein condensates and a glimpse towards the study of quantum turbulence in low-dimensionality systems.