BioSciences

Vortex lattices in rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates are systems of topological excitations that arrange themselves into periodic patterns. Here we show how phase-imprinting techniques can be used to create a controllable number of defects in these lattices and examine the resulting dynamics. Even though we describe our system using the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii theory, the full range of many-particle effects among the vortices can be studied. In particular we find the existence of localized vacancies that are quasistable over long periods of time and characterize the effects on the background lattice through the use of the orientational correlation function and Delaunay triangulation.