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Abstract:

We report an experimental realization of ultracold atoms confined in a time-averaged, adiabatic potential (TAAP). This trapping technique involves using a slowly oscillating (∼kHz) bias field to time-average the instantaneous potential given by dressing a bare magnetic potential with a high-frequency (~MHz) magnetic field. The resultant potentials provide a convenient route to a variety of trapping geometries with tunable parameters. We demonstrate the TAAP trap in a standard time-averaged orbiting potential trap with additional Helmholtz coils for the introduction of the radio frequency dressing field. We have evaporatively cooled 5×104 atoms of Rb87 to quantum degeneracy and observed condensate lifetimes of longer than 3 s. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

We report the observation of vortex nucleation in a rotating optical lattice. A Rb87 Bose-Einstein condensate was loaded into a static two-dimensional lattice and the rotation frequency of the lattice was then increased from zero. We studied how vortex nucleation depended on optical lattice depth and rotation frequency. For deep lattices above the chemical potential of the condensate we observed a linear dependence of the number of vortices created with the rotation frequency, even below the thermodynamic critical frequency required for vortex nucleation. At these lattice depths the system formed an array of Josephson-coupled condensates. The effective magnetic field produced by rotation introduced characteristic relative phases between neighboring condensates, such that vortices were observed upon ramping down the lattice depth and recombining the condensates. © 2010 The American Physical Society.