Refractive index-enhanced vortex lattices

Light propagation through vortex matter in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates is examined. It is shown that vortex matter can be used as a photonic crystal by a refractive index enhancement scheme. Band structure of the vortex lattice is numerically calculated. Index enhanced vortex matter is shown to exhibit large refractive index contrast with the dilute thermal gas background in the vortex core. Depending on the depth of the index contrast full or directional photonic band gaps are found in the band structure. Experimental parameters required to generate band gaps in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum are calculated.