Transfer and storage of vortex states in light and matter waves

Dutton, Zachary and Ruostekoski, Janne (2004) Transfer and storage of vortex states in light and matter waves. Physical review letters, 93 (19): 193602. ISSN 1079-7114

Abstract

We theoretically explore the transfer of vortex states between atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and optical pulses using ultra-slow and stopped light techniques. We find shining a coupling laser on a rotating two-component ground state condensate with a vortex lattice generates a probe laser field with optical vortices. We also find that optical vortex states can be robustly stored in the atomic superfluids for times, in Rb-87 condensates, limited only by the ground state coherence time.