Observation of superfluid flow in a Bose-Einstein condensed gas

We have studied the hydrodynamic flow in a Bose-Einstein condensate stirred by a macroscopic object, a blue-detuned laser beam, using nondestructive in situ phase contrast imaging. A critical velocity fur the onset of a pressure gradient has been observed, and shown to be density dependent. The technique has been compared to a calorimetric method used previously to measure the heating induced by the motion of the laser beam.