We experimentally study the fluid flow induced by a broad, penetrable barrier moving through an elongated dilute gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate. The barrier is created by a laser beam swept through the condensate, and the resulting dipole potential can be either attractive or repulsive. We examine both cases and find regimes of stable and unstable fluid flow: At slow speeds of the barrier, the fluid flow is stationary due to the superfluidity of the condensate. At intermediate speeds, we observe a non-stationary regime in which the condensate gets filled with dark solitons. At faster speeds, soliton formation completely ceases and a remarkable absence of excitation in the condensate is seen again.
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