Observation of vortex-antivortex pairing in decaying 2D turbulence of a superfluid gas.

ABSTRACT: In a two-dimensional (2D) classical fluid, a large-scale flow structure emerges out of turbulence, which is known as the inverse energy cascade where energy flows from small to large length scales. An interesting question is whether this phenomenon can occur in a superfluid, which is inviscid and irrotational by nature. Atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of highly oblate geometry provide an experimental venue for studying 2D superfluid turbulence, but their full investigation has been hindered due to a lack of the circulation sign information of individual quantum vortices in a turbulent sample. Here, we demonstrate a vortex sign detection method by using Bragg scattering, and we investigate decaying turbulence in a highly oblate BEC at low temperatures, with our lowest being ~0.5T

SUBMITTER: Seo SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496920 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature