VOLUME 89, NUMBER 3

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

15 JULY 2002

Mermin-Ho Vortex in Ferromagnetic Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates

T. Mizushima,1 K. Machida,1 and T. Kita2
1

Department of Physics, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan 2 Division of Physics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan (Received 8 March 2002; published 25 June 2002)

The Mermin-Ho and Anderson-Toulouse coreless vortices are demonstrated to be thermodynamically 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates under rotation. We have carried out stable in ferromagnetic F extensive calculations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equations by assuming uniform density along the z axis and comparing the energies of other competing non-axis-symmetric or singular vortices. The phase diagram is thereby established in a plane of the rotation drive vs the total magnetization. Their stability is also checked by calculating collective modes based on the Bogoliubov equations.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.030401 PACS numbers: 03.75.Fi, 05.30.Jp, 67.57.Fg

Topological structure plays an important and decisive role in various research elds, ranging from condensed matter physics to high energy physics. They provide a common framework to connect diverse elds, thereby enhancing mutual understanding [1,2]. Recent advances of experimental techniques on BoseEinstein condensation (BEC) have prompted us to closely and seriously look into theoretical possibilities which were mere thought experiments of theorists in this eld. This is particularly true for the spinor BEC with internal de1, i.e., mF grees of freedom of the hyperne spin F 1, 0, 21. Recently, Barrett et al. [3] succeeded in cooling 87 Rb with F 1 by all optical methods without recourse to the magnetic trapping. As shown recently by Klausen et al. [4], the spin-dependent interaction of two 87 Rb atoms is ferromagnetic. Thus, we now have spinor BECs with both antiferromagnetic (23 Na) [5] and ferromagnetic interactions, where internal degrees of freedom will play essential roles for their fundamental physical properties. For example, a rich variety of topological defects have already been predicted in the earliest studies [6,7]. These are followed by others [816] who carried out more detailed studies on the topological structures, such as Skyrmion, monopole, meron, and axis-symmetric or non-axis-symmetric vortices, for both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic cases. Superuid 3 He is analogous to the spinor BEC in that the Cooper pair possesses the orbital and spin degrees of freedom, giving rise to multicomponent order parameters [17]. Various topological structures have been predicted and/or observed in superuid 3 He. Among them, the Mermin-Ho (MH) [18] and Anderson-Toulouse (AT) [19] vortices with a nonsingular l-vector texture are extremely interesting objects, although no conrmed observations have been reported yet. The MH vortex is expected to appear spontaneously in a cylindrical vessel as an equilibrium object without any external rotation, because the rigid boundary imposes the l vector to lie perpendicular to the vessel wall. It will also be stable under slow rotation because of its nonsingular coreless structure [20]. 030401-1 0031-9007 02 89(3) 030401(4)$20.00

Similar topological structures, called Skyrmion in general, have been proposed in the spinor BEC. Khawaja and Stoof [10] studied a Skyrmion in the F 1 ferromagnetic BEC and concluded that it is not a thermodynamically stable object without rotation. Ingenious proposals have been made [1114] on how to create it and detect it. Here we demonstrate that, in the ferromagnetic F 1 spinor BEC trapped in a harmonic potential, the Mermin-Ho and Anderson-Toulouse vortices are thermodynamically stable for a certain region of the external angular velocity V and the magnetization M of the system. They will be shown to be favored over the singular vortices and other possible non-axis-symmetric vortices. This comes about because, as a general tendency, the ferromagnetic interaction prefers spatial phase separation. With different phase winding numbers 0, 1, 2 for the condensate wave functions f1 , f0 , f21 , respectively, the three components are arranged so as to be effectively phase separated in the radial direction with a concentric structure. The central region is occupied by f1 , the intermediate region by f0 , and the outermost region by f21 (see Fig. 1 below). This ingenious nonsingular coreless vortex carries angular momentum to lower the total energy under external rotation and a given magnetization.
(a) (b)

1.6 4.0 1.4 +1 2.0 1.2 1.0 0 0.8 -2.0 0.6 0 0.4 -4.0 0.2 -1 -4.0 -2.0 0 2.0 4.0 x [m] 0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 -0.5 0 0.5 1.0 x(y=0) [ m] lz

Density[10 20 m-3 ]

FIG. 1. The 0, 1, 2 vortex at V 0.35 and M N 0.21: (a) density prole of the condensates; (b) the density map of the lz vector. The bold line in (a) denotes the total density P 2 2 j jfj j , and the thin lines show the densities jfj j of the three components.

2002 The American Physical Society

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y [m]

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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

15 JULY 2002

We start with the Hamiltonian by Ohmi and Machida [6] and Ho [7]: " Z X y gn X y y gs X X y y H dr Ci h r 2 mi Ci 1 Ci Cj Cj Ci 1 Ci Cj Fa 2 ij 2 a ijkl i hr 2 2m 1 V r 2 V ? r 3 p , gn 4p h 2 a2 2a0 4p h 2 a0 12a2 , and gs m 3 m 3 . The subscripts are a x, y, z and i, j, k, l 0, 61 , the latter corresponding to the above three species. The chemical potentials mi satisfy m1 1 m21 2m0 . The scalar eld V r 1 2 2 x 1 y 2 is the external connement poten2 m 2pnr tial. We assume uniformity along the z axis, take V along z, and normalize the angular velocity V by the harmonic conning frequency nr . The scattering lengths a0 and a2 characterize collisions between two atoms with the total spin 0 and 2 channels, respectively. A recent rened estimate [4] concludes a ferromagnetic interaction a0 . a2 for 87 Rb and gs gn 20.01 20.005. Replacing Cj in Eq. (1) by the condensate wave function fj Cj and taking variations with respect to fj , we obtain the extended Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equations for the three-component order parameters as ) "( X 2 jfk j fi 1 h r 2 mi 1 gn where
k h 2 =2

#
ik

Fa

jl Ck Cl

(1)

gs

X X
a jkl

#
kl fk fl

Fa

ij

Fa

fj

0.

(2)

These coupled equations are used to calculate stability of various vortices in the following. In R real experimental situation, the total number the N dr Sj jfj j2 and the total magnetization M R dr Sj jjfj j2 are kept constant. This is realized in our calculations by adjusting the chemical potential m0 and m1 2 m0 . Various the ctitious magnetic eld m0 vortices are characterized by the phase winding numbers w1 , w0 , w21 of f1 , f0 , f21 , respectively, where the integer wi denotes the phase change by 2pwi when we go around the singularity of fi . It has been shown [16] that any stable state with axis symmetry should satisfy 2w0 w1 1 w21 ; see Refs. [15,16] for the classication of axis-symmetric vortices. For various combinations of w1 , w0 , w21 , the extended GP equations are solved numerically for a two-dimensional disk by discretizing it into 51 3 51 mesh points. We have performed an extensive search for stable vortices over a wide range of the ferromagnetic interaction gs gn 0 20.02, starting from various initial vortex congurations of both axissymmetric and non-axis-symmetric vortices. We have adopted the following parameters: the mass m 1.44 3 10225 kg, corresponding to 87 Rb; the trapping frequency nr 200 Hz; and the particle number per unit length 2.0 3 103 mm 21 . The results along the z axis nz displayed here are for gs gn 20.02. The MH vortex can be parametrized as f1 , f0 , f21 p b b b b p n r cos2 2 , 2 eiw sin 2 cos 2 , e2iw sin2 2 , where b r 030401-2

0 # b # p is the bending angle and w signies the polar angle of the polar coordinate. The spin direction is z cosb 1 described by the so-called l vector [6]: l r sinb x cosw 1 y sinw . For the MH vortex, the bending p angle varies from b 0 0 at the center to b R 2 at the boundary. The AT vortex differs from the MH vortex by only the value of b at the boundary as b R p. Thus, the spin moment rotates in the radial direction from vertical at the center to horizontal (MH) or downward (AT) at the boundary; see Fig. 18 of Ref. [17] for a schematic l-vector structure. These vortices have the common winding number combination 0, 1, 2 , as shown later. Figure 1 presents the calculated 0, 1, 2 vortex where the axis-symmetric density proles for each component and the density map of lz are displayed. It is seen that the central region of the harmonic trap is occupied by f1 carrying zero winding number w1 0. The f0 component, which has a singularity of w0 1 at r 0, is pushed outward, while the f21 component, with w2 2, occupies the outermost region. The resulting total density is coreless and nonsingular. In Fig. 2, we show the variation of lz cosb for the above 0, 1, 2 vortex along the radial direction. As the magnetization M decreases lz becomes negative in the outer region, which is due to the increase of the spin-down 2 in that region. Near the component f21 with w21 p boundary, it orients almost horizontally b r R 2 for M N 0.5, and downward for b r R p for M N 0. The former (latter) corresponds literally to the MH (AT) vortex. It hence follows that we can control these MH and AT vortices by merely changing the total magnetization. Notice that, in the superuid 3 He-A phase, the stability of the MH vortex is due to the constraint that the l vector be perpendicular to the vessel wall [17]. Here the situation is completely different; there is no such constraint on the l vector at the boundary. Thus, these vortices will be created naturally by adjusting the total
1 M/N = 0.46 0 0.0 -1 -4.0

lz

-3.0 -2.0

-1.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

r [ m]

FIG. 2. Variation of lz along the radial direction for V 0.37 and M N 0, 0.46. The dashed line is a t by cos pr R with R 2.85 mm.

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magnetization which may be controlled in harmonic-trap experiments. This difference in the two systems is rather remarkable and interesting. In our case MH or AT is stabilized purely due to the spin interaction ~ jgs j j2f1 r f21 r 2 f0 r j2 which favors the mutual phase segregation [15,16]. If f1 r 0 and f21 r 0, the component f0 r comes in to lower the interaction energy, thereby forming the concentric structure. In fact, similar calculations in the antiferromagnetic case reveals that the MH and AT vortices are never stabilized there [16,21]. We have performed an extensive search for determining the stability region of the 0, 1, 2 vortex in the V, M plane. Various initial vortex congurations, including nonaxis-symmetric vortex, were checked after iterations to converge on the same axis-symmetric 0, 1, 2 vortex in the relevant range. The stability of this vortex is also tested from two aspects, i.e., the global stability and the local stability. The global stability means comparing the energies of various vortices and the vortex-free state to choose the lowest energy state. The local stability is marked by the absence of negative-energy excitations in the Bogoliubov equations. This will be discussed later. The resulting phase diagram is shown in Fig. 3. The 0, 1, 2 vortex is seen to occupy a large area, whereas 1, 1, 1 and 1, 0, 21 vortices are favored near M N 0 and M N 1, respectively. We also nd a large empty region at intermediate values of M N, where a phase separation of the three components develops so that no 0, the three macroscopic phases are possible. Even at V components do not mix uniformly in the relevant range [16]. This phase separation is peculiar to the ferromagnetic case and does not occur in the antiferromagnetic case. The 1, 1, 1 vortex is shown in Fig. 4. It is nonsingular and non-axis-symmetric. This 1, 1, 1 vortex is advantageous in the low M N region because of the following reasons: (i) It does not contain winding numbers larger than 1. In this region, a vortex with wi $ 2 would collapse into
0.36 0.34

multiple wi 1 vortices. (ii) The singularities of f1 and f21 are shifted from each other and located off the trap center where the potential energy is minimum. This works favorably to gain more condensation energy. (iii) As V increases, the singularities of f1 and f21 can adjust their mutual distance and optimize the angular momentum L to prot from 2V ? L. In this sense, this conguration is exible against the change in V. This explains why this 0 in Fig. 3. In vortex survives along the V axis of M N contrast, it is not exible enough for the increase of M N. Indeed, the arrangement of the two singularities of f1 and f21 in Fig. 4 has been observed to become asymmetric as the f1 f21 component grows (shrinks). Thus, this vortex is conned in a narrow thin region near M N 0 (see Fig. 3). In the 0, 1, 2 vortex, the winding-free f1 component works as a pinning center for f0 and f21 . In particular, f21 with w21 2 is stabilized by the presence of f1 . For M N 0, this w21 2 makes the 0, 1, 2 vortex less favorable against the 1, 1, 1 vortex. However, it is quite exible against a change in M N in that it can adjust the particle distribution among the three components. Indeed, as M N increases, the component f1 has been observed to grow smoothly relative to the others to become relatively more and more stable. This explains the fact that the lower critical velocity (i.e., the lower phase boundary) of this 0, 1, 2 vortex in Fig. 3 becomes smaller as M increases. The 1, 0, 21 vortex is not shown here; see Fig. 3 in Ref. [15]. It is stabilized in the region of large M N and V. This is because the dominant f1 component of this vortex has the winding number 1, which can effectively lower the rotation energy. We have tested various competing vortices, including singular vs nonsingular vortices and axis-symmetric vs non-axis-symmetric vortices. In particular, the present consideration has exhausted all possible axis-symmetric vortices with w1 1 w0 1 w21 # 3, since the winding numbers should satisfy 2w0 w1 1 w21 here [16]. Notice that the MH and AT vortices belong to this axissymmetric category. It should be noted that V # 0.38
1.6

1, 0, -1
Density [10 m ]

[trap unit]

0.32 0.3 0.28 0.26 0.24 0.22 0.2 0

-4

1, 1, 1

1.4

0, 1, 2

1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

+1

-1

-2

4 q

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

20

-3

M/N
FIG. 3. Phase diagram of the ferromagnetic interaction. The dashed line denotes the boundary where the lowest quasiparticle energy of the 0, 1, 2 vortex becomes negative. The inset shows qu vs the lowest quasiparticle energy for M N 0.2 (open triangles) and 0.75 (lled triangles) at V 0.3.

0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

x(y=0) [ m]

FIG. 4. Density prole of the non-axis-symmetric 1, 1, 1 vortex for V 0. The bold line denotes the total P 0.35 and M N density j jfj j2 , and the thin lines show the densities jfj j2 of the three components.

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investigated here corresponds to the region where either symmetric situation with the Popov approximation, the the vortex-free or the single-vortex state is stabilized in extended Bogoliubov equations for the three components the scalar BEC [22]. Thus, the present single-vortex conare obtained as [15] sideration may also be justied in this region. X Aij uq r, j 2 Bij yq r, j q uq r, i , (3) Having tested the global stability of the 0, 1, 2 vorj tices, we now turn to the local stability, that is, the staX bility against a small perturbation. As already noted, it Bij uq r, j 2 Aij yq r, j q yq r, i , (4) is marked by the absence of negative-energy excitations j in the Bogoliubov equations. Under the relevant axiswhere Aij and Bij are dened by ( ) X X X jfk j2 dij 1 fi fj 1 gs Aij hdij 2 mi dij 1 gn Fa ij Fa kl fk fl 1 Fa il Fa kj fk fl ,
k a kl

Bij

gn fi fj 1 gs

X X
a kl

Fa

ik fk

Fa

jl fl

where uq r, i and yq r, i are the qth eigenfunctions, and q is the corresponding eigenvalue which gives the excitation spectrum of the system. The appearance of negative q implies the local intrinsic instability of the relevant vortex in the energy landscape. We have performed an extensive computation to check this local stability for the 0, 1, 2 and other axis-symmetric vortices. As expected, the lower phase boundary of the 0, 1, 2 vortex in Fig. 3 has been checked to coincide almost completely (i.e., to be indistinguishable from) the boundary of the local stability calculated from Eqs. (3) and (4). Below this line, the lowest excitation mode with the angular momentum qu 21 becomes negative; see the inset of Fig. 3. The dashed line in Fig. 3 denotes the upper boundary for the stability of the 0, 1, 2 vortex. It is marked by the appearance of the nega11 mode; see also the inset of Fig. 3. Thus, tive qu the present local stability lines roughly coincide with the global stability lines; the reason for a small discrepancy is not clear right now. Therefore, we can conclude that the MH and AT vortices are stable objects and robust in the ferromagnetic spinor BEC. It is easy to calculate the total angular momentum Lz of the 0, 1, 2 vortex; it is given by Lz h N0 1 2N21 with Ni the particle number of the i component. Since M N1 2 N21 and N N1 1 N0 1 N21 , the total angular Lz momentum per particle can also be expressed as hN 1 2 M . This simple formula shows the following: (i) At N M N , Lz 0 because f1 has no winding. (ii) At M N Lz 1 2 , hN is one-half, implying that the angular momentum per particle is exactly h 2 in the MH vortex. The validity of assuming uniformity along the z direction has been checked by comparing the free energies of the MH vortex and the phase separated state which may occur in the present ferromagnetic interaction without rotation [16]. We have conrmed that the 0, 1, 2 vortex is indeed stable under rotation. In summary, we have shown that the Mermin-Ho and Anderson-Toulouse vortices are thermodynamically stable objects under a certain rotation drive V and the total magnetization M of the system. Their stability has been double-checked using both the global- and the local030401-4

stability criteria in the energy landscape. We have also conrmed the earlier conclusion that they are not stable at V 0 [10]. These intriguing vortices might be detected with various experimental techniques, such as the Faraday rotation which could image the spatial magnetic pattern of these vortices. We thank T. Ohmi and T. Isoshima for valuable discussions.

[1] R. Rajaraman, Solitons and Instanton (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1982); N. D. Mermin, Rev. Mod. Phys. 51, 591 (1979). [2] A. J. Leggett, Rev. Mod. Phys. 73, 307 (2001). [3] M. Barrett et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 010404 (2001). [4] N. N. Klausen et al., Phys. Rev. A 64, 053602 (2001). [5] J. Stenger et al., Nature (London) 369, 345 (1998). [6] T. Ohmi and K. Machida, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 67, 1822 (1998). [7] T.-L. Ho, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 742 (1998). [8] S.-K. Yip, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4677 (1999). [9] U. Leonhardt and G. E. Volovik, JETP Lett. 72, 46 (2000). [10] U. Al Khawaja and H. T. C. Stoof, Nature (London) 411, 918 (2001); Phys. Rev. A 64, 043612 (2001). [11] K.-P. Marzlin et al., Phys. Rev. A 62, 013602 (2000). [12] Th. Busch and J. R. Anglin, Phys. Rev. A 60, R2669 (1999). [13] S. Tuchiya and S. Kurihara, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 70, 1182 (2001). [14] J.-P. Martikainen et al., cond-mat/0106301. [15] T. Isoshima et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 70, 1604 (2001). [16] T. Isoshima and K. Machida, cond-mat/0201507. [17] M. M. Salomaa and G. E. Volovik, Rev. Mod. Phys. 59, 533 (1987). [18] N. D. Mermin and T.-L. Ho, Phys. Rev. Lett. 36, 594 (1976). [19] P. W. Anderson and G. Toulouse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 508 (1977). [20] See, for recent advances on this subject, R. Blaauwgeers et al., Nature (London) 404, 471 (2000). [21] T. Mizushima et al. (private communication). [22] T. Isoshima and K. Machida, Phys. Rev. A 60, 3313 (1999).

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