arXiv:1606.08856 · Physical Review Letters
Anisotropic Expansion of a Thermal Dipolar Bose Gas
Yijun Tang, A. G. Sykes, Nathaniel Burdick, Jack DiSciacca, Dmitry S. Petrov, Benjamin Lev
Abstract
We report on the anisotropic expansion of ultracold bosonic dysprosium gases at temperatures above quantum degeneracy and develop a quantitative theory to describe this behavior. The theory expresses the postexpansion aspect ratio in terms of temperature and microscopic collisional properties by incorporating Hartree-Fock mean-field interactions, hydrodynamic effects, and Bose-enhancement factors. Our results extend the utility of expansion imaging by providing accurate thermometry for dipolar thermal Bose gases. Furthermore, we present a simple method to determine scattering lengths in dipolar gases, including near a Feshbach resonance, through observation of thermal gas expansion.