Effect of optical lattice potentials on the vortices in rotating dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the interplay of dipole-dipole interaction and optical lattice (OL) potential of varying depths on the formation and dynamics of vortices in rotating dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates. By numerically solving the time-dependent quasi-two dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we analyse the consequence of dipole-dipole interaction on vortex nucleation, vortex structure, critical rotation frequency and number of vortices for a range of OL depths. Rapid creation of vortices has been observed due to supplementary symmetry breaking provided by the OL in addition to the dipolar interaction. Also the critical rotation frequency decreases with an increase in the depth of the OL. Further, at lower rotation frequencies the number of vortices increases on increasing the depth of OL while it decreases at higher rotation frequencies. This variation in the number of vortices has been confirmed by calculating the rms radius, which shrinks in deep optical lattice at higher rotation frequencies.