We demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation of rubidium atoms in a simple low-power magnetic trap. This trap combines the quadrupole with the Ioffe configuration (QUIC trap) and consists of just three coils. Magneto-optically trapped
87Rb atoms are first loaded into the linear trapping potential of a magnetic quadrupole, which is then converted into the parabolic geometry of an Ioffe trap. During this process two spherical quadrupole traps with perpendicular axes merge and the trapped atomic cloud moves close to the magnetic field producing coils, resulting in tight confinement of the atoms while the power dissipation of the trap remains low. The magnetically trapped atoms are cooled to below the phase transition of Bose-Einstein condensation by rf-induced evaporation.
The apparatus and procedure required to generate a pure Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) consisting of about half a million 87Rb atoms at a temperature of <60 nK with a phase density of >54 is described. The atoms are first laser cooled in a vapour cell magneto-optical trap (MOT) and subsequently transferred to an ultra-low pressure MOT. The atoms are loaded into a QUIC trap consisting of a pair of quadrupole coils and a Ioffe coil that generates a small finite magnetic field at the trap energy minimum to suppress Majorana transitions. Evaporation induced by an RF field lowers the temperature permitting the transition to BEC to be observed by monitoring the free expansion of the atoms after the trapping fields have been switched off.PACS Nos.: 03.75.Fi, 05.30.Jp, 32.80.Pj, 64.60.i
We demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation of rubidium atoms in a simple low-power magnetic trap. This trap combines the quadrupole with the Ioffe configuration ~QUIC trap! and consists of just three coils. Magneto-optically trapped Rb atoms are first loaded into the linear trapping potential of a magnetic quadrupole, which is then converted into the parabolic geometry of an Ioffe trap. During this process two spherical quadrupole traps with perpendicular axes merge and the trapped atomic cloud moves close to the magnetic field producing coils, resulting in tight confinement of the atoms while the power dissipation of the trap remains low. The magnetically trapped atoms are cooled to below the phase transition of Bose-Einstein condensation by rf-induced evaporation. @S1050-2947~98!51210-3#
We report the results of in-situ characterization of $ ^{87}$Rb atom cloud in a quadrupole Ioffe configuration (QUIC) magnetic trap after radio frequency (RF) evaporative cooling of the trapped atom cloud. The in-situ absorption images of the atom cloud have shown clear bimodal optical density (OD) profiles which indicate the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) phase transition in the trapped gas. Also, we report the measured variation in the sizes of the condensate and thermal clouds with the final frequency in the frequency scan of the RF-field applied for evaporative cooling. The results are consistent with the theoretical understanding and predictions reported earlier.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in ultra-cold magnetically-trapped
sp7Li vapor was experimentally observed and quantitative measurements of condensate number were made. Compared to other BEC experiments, lithium is unique due to its negative s-wave scattering length, corresponding to effectively attractive interactions. Due to this attraction, condensates are expected to undergo mechanical collapse if the condensate number exceeds a critical value. In this experiment, an upper limit of about 1000 condensate atoms is found, in agreement with theoretical predictions.\nIn the experiment, the atoms are confined by a set of six permanent magnets in the Ioffe configuration. Optical forces are used to slow and guide atoms from a thermal atomic beam into the magnetic trap. With about
10sp8 atoms loaded into the trap, the vapor is laser-cooled to near 200
muK and then evaporatively cooled by application of a resonantly-tuned microwave field. Evaporative cooling produces a million-fold increase in phase-space density, reaching quantum-degenerate conditions with about 10
sp5 atoms at temperatures near 300
muK. After cooling, the trapped atom distribution is observed by in situ imaging via an optical probe. Calculated atom distributions are fit to the image data.\nIn initial data, the imaging resolution was insufficient to see the spatially-narrow condensate peak, but as phase-space densities approached the expected phase transition, the images suddenly became distorted. Initial fits to the data suggested as many as 10
sp5 condensate atoms, in strong disagreement with theoretical predictions. An imaging model, accounting for imperfections in the imaging optics, shows that the sudden appearance of the distortions is a consequence of BEC, and that these distortions led to the initial over-estimation of cloud phase-space density and condensate number.\nImproved imaging was obtained using large probe detunings, a Phase-Contrast Polarization Imaging (PCPI) technique, and near-diffraction-limited imaging optics. The PCPI method exploits the birefringence of the trapped atoms. From the resulting images, quantitative estimates of condensate number are obtained and compared with theory.
We report the realization of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in dilute rubidium gas. The BEC was achieved in a quadrupole and Ioffe configuration trap. The number of condensed atoms is around 4 × 10 4 in total 5 × 10 5 , and the transition temperature is 250 nK. We have studied the light scattering of the atom cloud and the condensate in a tightly confined magnetic trap. We show that it is possible to use the diffraction patterns in the near-resonant imaging of the trapped cold atomic samples to give the information of the BEC phase transition.