Atomic Josephson vortices

Abstract

We show that Josephson vortices in a quasi-one-dimensional atomic Bose Josephson junction can be controllably manipulated by imposing a difference of chemical potentials on the atomic Bose-Einstein condensate waveguides forming the junction. This effect, which has its origin in the Berry phase structure of a vortex, turns out to be very robust in the whole range of the parameters where such vortices can exist. We also propose that a Josephson vortex can be created by the phase imprinting technique and can be identified by a specific tangential feature in the interference picture produced by expanding clouds released from the waveguides.