Vortices in a Bose Einstein condensate

Summary form only given. Since the first observations of Bose Einstein condensates (BEC) in dilute atomic gases, there has been considerable interest in observing effects in atomic BEC akin to the hallmark effects associated with a superfluid, in particular persistent, quantized circulation of the fluid. Using a method proposed by Williams and Holland´ we have prepared vortices, macroscopic quantum states with quantized angular momentum, in a trapped BEC of /sup 87/Rb. The experimental realization of this method takes advantage of unique features of the time averaged orbiting potential (TOP) trap and builds on earlier work involving two-component condensates. The two components refer to two different internal hyperfine states of /sup 87/Rb, confined by identical and fully overlapping magnetic trap potentials in these experiments.