Vortices in a Quantum Frozen Fog express
A supersolid is matter that is both crystalline and fluid. It is created from atoms cooled almost to absolute zero. In new work, physicists obtained such a substance as a triangular lattice of droplets. Each droplet oscillates in its own rhythm. When the rhythms of neighboring droplets slightly diverge, a quantum vortex is born in the gaps between them, like a dancer stepping into a gap in a round dance. Slow divergences give birth to vortices at the corners, and when the rhythms speed up and synchronize, the vortices come into ordered motion, colliding and vanishing. Similar to a pulsar with its strict pulses, the phase rhythm dictates the appearance of vortices. Remarkably, just three droplets are enough — the minimal ensemble for a quantum dance. The effect, predicted by Landau for superfluids, gains new life here. In the future, such rhythm control will pave the way for controlling quantum systems.
Original abstract
as written by the authors arXiv:2606.07266
We investigate vortex nucleation and transport in a rotating dipolar supersolid arranged in a triangular droplet lattice, exploiting its description as an array of weakly linked condensates. By considering both Josephson and macroscopic self-trapping dynamics, we show that local phase differences between droplets provide a compact and highly predictive framework to explore a wide range of vortex behaviors. In particular, Josephson oscillations can be devised to induce vortex nucleation and motion near the vertices of the low-density hexagonal lattice (between droplets), while self-trapping dynamics induce running phases that enable directed vortex transport, which may be accompanied by vortex-antivortex pair creation and annihilation over finite time scales. Comparison with simulations based on the extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation demonstrates that a three-droplet description is essential to capture vortex motion near hexagon vertices. Together, Josephson and self-trapping dynamics provide a tunable protocol to trigger and track vortex nucleation, transport, and vortex-antivortex pair annihilation, revealing the microscopic topological mechanisms underlying phase slips in rotating dipolar supersolids.
It wasn't until 2017 that the supersolid state was achieved in the lab using dysprosium atoms — before that it was considered merely a theoretical curiosity.
The birth of vortices from emptiness recalls the folded navigations from Dune, but here it's lab reality.