Bénard–von Kármán vortex street in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

Xue-Ying Yang, Xiao-Lin Li, Na Tang, Zhi-Kun Zhou, Lin Song, Juan Zhang, and Yu-Ren Shi
Phys. Rev. E 102, 032217 – Published 18 September 2020

Abstract

The dynamics of pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose-Einstein condensates with weak spin-orbit coupling through a moving obstacle potential are studied numerically. Four types of wakes are observed and the phase diagrams are determined for different spin-orbit coupling strengths. The conditions to form Bénard–von Kármán vortex street are rather rigorous, and we investigate in detail the dynamical characteristics of the vortex streets. The two point vortices in a pair rotate around their center, and the angular velocity and their distance oscillate periodically. The oscillation intensifies with increasing spin-orbit coupling strengths, and it makes part of the vortex pairs dissociate into separate vortices or combine into single ones and destroys the vortex street in the end. The width b of the street and the distance l between two consecutive vortex pairs of the same circulation are determined by the potential radius and its moving velocity, respectively. The b/l ratios are independent of the spin-orbit coupling strength and fall in the range 0.190.27, which is a little smaller than the stability criterion 0.28 for classical fluids. Proper b/l ratios are necessary to form Bénard–von Kármán vortex street, but the spin-orbit coupling strength affects the stability of the street patterns. Finally, we propose a protocol to experimentally realize the vortex street in Rb87 spin-orbit-coupling Bose-Einstein condensates.

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  • Received 11 November 2019
  • Accepted 2 September 2020
  • Corrected 22 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.032217

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nonlinear DynamicsFluid DynamicsAtomic, Molecular & Optical

Corrections

22 September 2020

Correction: An NSF grant number was missing in the Acknowledgments and has been inserted.

Authors & Affiliations

Xue-Ying Yang1,2, Xiao-Lin Li1,2, Na Tang1,2, Zhi-Kun Zhou1,2, Lin Song1,2, Juan Zhang1,2,3, and Yu-Ren Shi1,2,*

  • 1College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, People's Republic of China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Atomic and Molecular Physics and Functional Materials of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, People's Republic of China
  • 3Department of Basic Courses, Lanzhou Institute of Technology, Lanzhou 730070, People's Republic of China

  • *shiyr@nwnu.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 3 — September 2020

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