Effect of an impulsive force on vortices in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

The effects of a sudden increase and decrease of the interatomic interaction and harmonic-oscillator trapping potential on vortices in a quasi two-dimensional rotating Bose-Einstein condensate are investigated using the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Upon increasing the strength of interaction suddenly the condensate enters a nonstationary oscillating phase which starts to develop more vortices. The opposite happens if the strength is reduced suddenly. Eventually, the number of vortices attains a final value at large times. Similarly, the number of vortices increases (decreases) upon a sudden reduction (augmentation) in the trapping potential. We also study the decay of vortices when the rotation of the condensate is suddenly stopped. Upon a free expansion of a rotating BEC with vortices the radius of the vortex core increases more rapidly than the radius of the condensate. This makes the counting and detection of multiple vortex easier after a free expansion.