Vortex Lattices in Highly Anisotropic Traps

Vortex lattices have become one of the most interesting areas of research in the area of cold atomic physics in recent years. When inducing a large amount of angular momentum into the ground state of a superfluid Bose-Einstein condensate, the sample responds by forming a so-called Abrikosov lattice. Within this lattice, vortices with winding number one are arranged in a triangular pattern that extends over the whole size of the sample. While the Abrikosov lattice is the exact solution for homogeneous condensates, it is also a very good solution for systems in isotropic harmonic traps. Due to the inhomogeneous potential however, the vortex lattice as a whole rotates within the trap.