arXiv:1108.2561 · Physical Review A
Collapse and three-body loss in a 85 Rb Bose-Einstein condensate
P. A. Altin, G. R. Dennis, Gordon McDonald, D. Döring, J. E. Debs, J. D. Close, Craig M. Savage, Nicholas P. Robins
Abstract
Collapsing Bose-Einstein condensates are rich and complex quantum systems for which quantitative explanation by simple models has proved elusive. We present experimental data on the collapse of high-density ${}^{85}$Rb condensates with attractive interactions and find quantitative agreement with the predictions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The collapse data and measurements of the decay of atoms from our condensates allow us to put new limits on the value of the ${}^{85}$Rb three-body loss coefficient ${K}_{3}$ at small positive and negative scattering lengths.