Cascade of Solitonic Excitations in a Superfluid Fermi gas: From Planar Solitons to Vortex Rings and Lines
Author(s)
Ku, Mark J. H.; Mukherjee, Biswaroop; Yefsah, Tarik; Zwierlein, Martin Wolfram; Ku, Mark J. H.
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We follow the time evolution of a superfluid Fermi gas of resonantly interacting [superscript 6]Li atoms after a phase imprint. Via tomographic imaging, we observe the formation of a planar dark soliton, its subsequent snaking, and its decay into a vortex ring, which, in turn, breaks to finally leave behind a single solitonic vortex. In intermediate stages, we find evidence for an exotic structure resembling the Φ soliton, a combination of a vortex ring and a vortex line. Direct imaging of the nodal surface reveals its undulation dynamics and its decay via the puncture of the initial soliton plane. The observed evolution of the nodal surface represents dynamics beyond superfluid hydrodynamics, calling for a microscopic description of unitary fermionic superfluids out of equilibrium.
Date issued
2016-01Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics; MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold AtomsJournal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Ku, Mark J. H., Biswaroop Mukherjee, Tarik Yefsah, and Martin W. Zwierlein. "Cascade of Solitonic Excitations in a Superfluid Fermi gas: From Planar Solitons to Vortex Rings and Lines." Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 045304 (January 2016). © 2016 American Physical Society
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0031-9007
1079-7114