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Physical Review Letters

Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Tightly Confining dc Magnetic Trap

M.‐O. Mewes, Michael R. Andrews, N. J. van Druten, Dan Stamper-Kurn, Dallin Durfee, Wolfgang Ketterle

Published Jul 15, 1996• 488 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Bose-Einstein condensation of sodium atoms has been observed in a novel ``cloverleaf'' trap. This trap combines tight confinement with excellent optical access, using only dc electromagnets. Evaporative cooling in this trap produced condensates of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ atoms, a tenfold improvement over previous results. We measured the condensate fraction and the repulsive mean-field energy, finding agreement with theoretical predictions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.77.416

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Bose-Einstein condensation of sodium atoms has been observed in a novel ``cloverleaf'' trap. This trap combines tight confinement with excellent optical access, using only dc electromagnets. Evaporative cooling in this trap produced condensates of 5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1065\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi106 atoms, a tenfold improvement over previous results. We measured the condensate fraction and the repulsive mean-field energy, finding agreement with theoretical predictions.
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Bose-Einstein condensation of 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb has been observed in a vapor cell time-averaged orbiting potential trap, and the trapped condensates have been studied using in situ absorption and dark-ground imaging methods. Condensates of $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}$ atoms were observed after 26 s of evaporative cooling. The evaporative cooling sequence consisted of a combination of cooling with ramping magnetic-field strengths and radio-frequency-induced cooling. The measured sizes, numbers of atoms, and transition temperatures of the condensates are consistent with theoretical predictions that include the effects of atomic interactions.
Experimental techniques to produce and observe a Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium atoms are presented. The atoms are first optically cooled and trapped in an ultra-high vacuum (-10-11 torr) glass cell using a double magneto-optical trap, and then transferred to a “cloverleaf” magnetic trap. Rf-induced evaporation is performed to further cool the magnetically trapped atoms below the phase transition of Bose-Einstein condensation. The velocity distribution (inferred by absorption imaging) of the cooled atomic cloud clearly shows the expected bi-modal structure characteristic of a condensate