Polar-Core Vortex Dynamics and Turbulence

Project Level: PhD

Many of the turbulence and vortex experiments in the UQ BEC lab have focused on exquisite control and measurement of vortex dynamics in scalar BECs, which are BECs consisting of a single spin component. However, recent work in the UQ BEC lab has progressed to establishing a spinor condensate, consisting of all three spin states in the F=1 ground state of Rubidium 87. The capabilities of this experiment are being rapidly developed for the controlled creation of polar core vortices (PCVs) which are vortices in the spin texture of the spinor condensate but do not possess any overall fluid flow.

The aim of this PhD project will be to progress the study of PCVs dynamics beyond few vortex systems to more complex arrangements, building up spin turbulence from a bottom up approach. Additional aspects will be the application of spinor condensates to high-precision magnetic field sensing.