Properties of a nematic spin vortex in an antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

A spin-1 condensate with antiferromagnetic interactions supports nematic spin vortices in the easy-plane polar phase. These vortices have a 2π winding of the nematic director with a core structure that depends on the quadratic Zeeman energy. We characterize the properties of the nematic spin vortex in a uniform quasi-two-dimensional system. We also obtain the vortex excitation spectrum and use it to quantify its stability against dissociating into two half-quantum vortices, finding a parameter regime where the nematic spin vortex is dynamically stable. These results are supported by full dynamical simulations.