  By combining experiments and numerical simulations which model the dynamics
of shaken atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, we reveal the surprising nature of
quantum turbulence in these systems. Unlike the tangles of vortex lines
described in the superfluid helium literature, we find that our turbulent
atomic condensate contains a mixture of strong fragmented density fluctuations
and small random vortex loops which are not homogeneously distributed. This
unusual form of turbulence, with its own properties and scaling behaviour,
which we call strong quantum turbulence, is significantly different from the
turbulence which is observed in either classical or other quantum systems, thus
posing a new challenge in turbulence research.
