Coherent vortex dynamics in a strongly interacting superfluid on a silicon chip

Abstract

Following vortices around When stirred, superfluids react by creating quantized vortices. Studying the dynamics of these vortices, especially in the strongly interacting regime, is technically challenging. Sachkou et al. developed a technique for the nondestructive tracking of vortices in thin films of superfluid helium-4. Their system contained a microtoroid optical cavity coated by a thin film of helium-4, in which vortices were created by using laser light. When imaging the subsequent dynamics of the vortices, the researchers found that coherent dynamics strongly dominated over dissipation. Science , this issue p. 1480