Using a focused laser beam we stir a Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a
magnetic trap. When the stirring frequency lies near a critical value, com
patible with the quadrupolar mode resonance, we observe the nucleation of a
vortex even for a very small stirring anisotropy (of the order of 1%). The
results: presented here demonstrate that the nucleation of vortices in the
case of a trapped BEC is driven by the resonant excitation of the rotating
quadrupolar mode. Using a percussive excitation of the condensate, we meas
ure the angular momentum of the condensate with the vortex, and we find tha
t it is similar to h per particle, as expected. For larger stirring frequen
cies, regular arrays of vortices are observed. (C) 2001 Academie des scienc
es/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.