We study the metastability and decay of multiply charged superflow in a ring-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Supercurrent corresponding to a giant vortex with topological charge up to $q=10$ is phase imprinted optically and detected both interferometrically and kinematically. We observe $q=3$ superflow persisting for up to a minute and clearly resolve a cascade of quantized steps in its decay. These stochastic decay events, associated with vortex-induced $2\pi$ phase slips, correspond to collective jumps of atoms between discrete $q$ values. We demonstrate the ability to detect quantized rotational states with $>$99$\%$ fidelity, which allows a detailed quantitative study of time-resolved phase-slip dynamics. We find that the supercurrent decays rapidly if the superflow speed exceeds a critical velocity in good agreement with numerical simulations, and we also observe rare stochastic phase slips for superflow speeds below the critical velocity.

• Received 2 December 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.86.013629