Abstract
We propose a method of generating a vortex ring in a Bose-Einstein condensate by means of electromagnetically induced atomic transitions. Some remnant population of atoms in a second internal state remains within the toroidal trap formed by the mean-field repulsion of the vortex ring. This population can be removed, or it can be made to flow around the torus (i.e., within the vortex ring). If this flow has a unit topological winding number, the entire structure formed by the two condensates is an example of a three-dimensional Skyrmion texture.
- Received 31 October 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3934
©2001 American Physical Society