Onsager vortex formation in Bose-Einstein condensates in two-dimensional power-law traps

Understand

We study computationally dynamics of quantised vortices in two-dimensional superfluid Bose-Einstein condensates confined in highly oblate power-law traps.

• We have found that the formation of large scale Onsager vortex clusters prevalent in steep-walled traps is suppressed in condensates confined by harmonic potentials.
• However, the shape of the trapping potential does not appear to adversely affect the evaporative heating efficiency of the vortex gas.
• Instead, the suppression of Onsager vortex formation in harmonic traps can be understood in terms of the energy of the vortex configurations.