Stable vortex dipoles in nonrotating Bose-Einstein condensates -: art. no. 063609

We find stable families of vortex dipoles in nonrotating Bose-Einstein condensates. The vortex dipoles correspond to topological excited collective states of the condensed atoms. They exist and are dynamically and structurally stable for a broad range of parameters. We show that they can be generated by phase-imprinting techniques on the ground state of condensates.