Optical Generation of Vortices in trapped Bose-Einstein Condensates

We demonstrate numerically the efficient generation of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) by using a ``phase imprinting'' method. The method consist of passing a far off resonant laser pulse through an absorption plate with azimuthally dependent absorption coefficient, imaging the laser beam onto a BEC, and thus creating the corresponding non-dissipative Stark shift potential and condensate phase shift. In our calculations we take into account experimental imperfections. We also propose an interference method to detect vortices by coherently pushing part of the condensate using optically induced Bragg scattering.