Vortices in a BEC with dipole-dipole interaction

Interparticle interactions have fundamental importance in the study of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of dilute gases. In a dipolar BEC, interaction potential includes both s-wave and dipole-dipole interaction term. Dipolar interactions are radically different from s-wave interaction, and they have remarkable consequences for the physics of nonrotating and rotating condensates.The rotation of BEC leads to the formation of quantized vortex lines. In this thesis, BEC and vortices in BEC are reviewed. Dipolar BEC with a single vortex state is investigated in the Thomas-Fermi approximation. The effects of dipolar interactions on the rotational angular velocity and shape of a dipolar condensate with an off-axis vortex are reported. Vortex dipoles are studied in the low and high dipolar interaction regimes. The dependence of the critical velocity on the dipolar interaction strength and the vortex separation is examined.