This article gives a brief review of Bose‐Einstein condensation. It is an exotic quantum phenomenon that was observed in dilute atomic gases for the first time in 1995. It exhibits a new state of matter in which a group of atoms behaves as a single particle. Experiments on this form of matter are relevant to many different areas of physics‐ from atomic clocks and quantum computing to super fluidity, superconductivity and quantum phase transition.
This article gives a brief review of Bose‐Einstein condensation. It is an exotic quantum phenomenon that was observed in dilute atomic gases for the first time in 1995. It exhibits a new state of matter in which a group of atoms behaves as a single particle. Experiments on this form of matter are relevant to many different areas of physics‐ from atomic clocks and quantum computing to super fluidity, superconductivity and quantum phase transition.
In 1925 Einstein predicted that at low temperatures particles in a gas could all reside in the same quantum state. This gaseous state, a Bose–Einstein condensate, was produced in the laboratory for the first time in 1995 and investigating such condensates has become one of the most active areas in contemporary physics. The study of Bose–Einstein condensates in dilute gases encompasses a number of different subfields of physics, including atomic, condensed matter, and nuclear physics. The authors of this graduate-level textbook explain this exciting new subject in terms of basic physical principles, without assuming detailed knowledge of any of these subfields. Chapters cover the statistical physics of trapped gases, atomic properties, cooling and trapping atoms, interatomic interactions, structure of trapped condensates, collective modes, rotating condensates, superfluidity, interference phenomena, and trapped Fermi gases. Problem sets are also included in each chapter.
As was shown by Einstein in 1924, Bose-Einstein statistics gives rise to a phase transition in which a macroscopic part of a gaseous state condenses into a phase with ground state properties, offering a unique view on the behavior of matter at zero temperature. From the very start the nature of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) has provoked statements concerning its relation with respect to superconductivity in electron gases (Einstein 1925) and the superfluidity of liquid helium (London 1938), but this connection is not easily grasped experimentally. Remarkably, although the concept of BEC appears routinely in very different contexts, ranging from excitons in semiconductors to nuclear matter, it had never been observed in its pure form, i.e., in a gaseous phase, until in 1995 BEC in ultracold Rb vapor was reported by Cornell and Wieman. Bose-Einstein condensation is probably the most exciting phenomenon currently under experimental investigation in ultracold atomic gases. In the tutorial the physics will be addressed which is at the roots of the current interest of BEC in atomic gases.
This article reviews recent investigations on the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation of dilute gases. Since the experimental observation of quantum degeneracy in atomic gases, the research activity in the field of coherent matter-waves literally exploded. The present topical review aims to give an introduction into the thermodynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation, a general overview over experimental techniques and investigations, and a theoretical foundation for the description of bosonic many-body quantum systems.
For sufficiently low temperatures, a Bose gas experiences a transition into a Bose-Einstein condensate, characterized by a macroscopic occupation of the ground state of the system. The development of efficient cooling and trapping techniques for neutral atoms led in 1995, to the first observation of BEC in dilute alkali gases in 87Rb [1]. This remarkable achievement has been followed by BEC experiments in various other elements. The BEC has become during the last years, one of the most active and fruitful research areas of modern atomic physics, constituting an interdisciplinary field, which links atomic physics with various other research areas, like quantum optics, condensed-matter physics, and very especially nonlinear physics.
When the atoms in a gas are cooled to extremely low temperatures, their quantum-mechanical nature starts to dominate the properties of the whole gas. Under the appropriate conditions, the atoms will 'condense' into a single quantum state of the system-a phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). The resulting 'condensate' behaves as a single, observable quantum-mechanical object. During the last decade, this new state of matter has displayed many remarkable properties. In this paper, we review some of the most recent experimental developments in the BEC field, highlighting the role of atomic interactions and the high degree of control with which condensates may be manipulated.
The Field of ultracold quantum gases is no longer in its infancy. Since the first gaseous Bose–Einstein condensate was formed in 1995, physicists have made an exhaustive study of the many amazing properties of this new state of matter. Similar progress has been made with degenerate Fermigases – the quantum-mechanical cousins of Bose condensates. In addition to being fascinating in their own right, experiments on quantum gases are relevant to many different areas of physics – from atomic clocks and quantum computing to superfluidity and quantum phase transitions.