Formation of vortices in a three-dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate the vortex formation properties of a three-dimensional (3D) dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 52Cr atoms in an optical lattice potential through numerical simulations of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a dissipation term. The mechanisms that influence the dipole-dipole interaction and the repulsive contact interaction between atoms during vortex formation are analyzed. We find that the stability of the vortices weakens with increasing attractive dipolar strength and that the repulsive contact interaction between atoms can increase the number of vortices.