Properties of quasi two-dimensional condensates in highly anisotropic traps

We theoretically investigate some of the observable properties of quasi two-dimensional condensates. Using a variational model based on a Gaussian-parabolic trial wavefunction we calculate chemical potential, condensate size in time-of-flight, release energy and collective excitation spectrum for varying trap geometries and atom numbers and find good agreement with recent published experimental results.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Single Atom Imaging with an sCMOS camera

Single atom imaging requires discrimination of weak photon count events above background and has typically been performed using either EMCCD cameras, photomultiplier tubes or single photon counting modules. sCMOS provides a cost effective and highly scalable alternative to other single atom imaging technologies, offering fast readout and larger sensor dimensions. We demonstrate single atom resolved imaging of two site-addressable single atom traps separated by 10~$\mu$m using an sCMOS camera, offering a competitive signal-to-noise ratio at intermediate count rates to allow high fidelity readout discrimination (error $<10^{-6}$) and sub-$\mu$m spatial resolution for applications in quantum technologies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Novel techniques to cool and rotate Bose-Einstein condensates in time-averaged adiabatic potentials

We report two novel techniques for cooling and rotating Bose-Einstein condensates in a dilute rubidium vapour that highlight the control and versatility afforded over cold atom systems by time-averaged adiabatic potentials (TAAPs). The intrinsic loss channel of the TAAP has been successfully employed to evaporatively cool a sample of trapped atoms to quantum degeneracy. The speed and efficiency of this process compares well with that of conventional forced rf-evaporation. In an independent experiment, we imparted angular momentum to a cloud of atoms forming a Bose-Einstein condensate by introducing a rotating elliptical deformation to the TAAP geometry. Triangular lattices of up to 60 vortices were created. All findings reported herein result from straightforward adjustments of the magnetic fields that give rise to the TAAP.Comment: The first two authors contributed equally to this wor

Supersymmetric 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos

We consider the supersymmetric extension of the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos. We study the mass spectra in the scalar and pseudoscalar sectors, and for a given set of the input parameters, we find that the lightest scalar in the model has a mass of 130 GeV and the lightest pseudoscalar has mass of 5 GeV. However, this pseudoscalar decouples from the $Z^0$ at high energy scales since it is almost a singlet under $SU(2)_L\otimes U(1)_Y$.Comment: Revtex4, 16 pages, no figure

Electric Charge Quantization

Experimentally it has been known for a long time that the electric charges of the observed particles appear to be quantized. An approach to understanding electric charge quantization that can be used for gauge theories with explicit $U(1)$ factors -- such as the standard model and its variants -- is pedagogically reviewed and discussed in this article. This approach uses the allowed invariances of the Lagrangian and their associated anomaly cancellation equations. We demonstrate that charge may be de-quantized in the three-generation standard model with massless neutrinos, because differences in family-lepton--numbers are anomaly-free. We also review the relevant experimental limits. Our approach to charge quantization suggests that the minimal standard model should be extended so that family-lepton--number differences are explicitly broken. We briefly discuss some candidate extensions (e.g. the minimal standard model augmented by Majorana right-handed neutrinos).Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, UM-P-92/5

Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice with dynamically variable periodicity

The use of a dynamic "accordion" lattice with ultracold atoms is demonstrated. Ultracold atoms of $^{87}$Rb are trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice, and the spacing of the lattice is then increased in both directions from 2.2 to 5.5 microns. Atoms remain bound for expansion times as short as a few milliseconds, and the experimentally measured minimum ramp time is found to agree well with numerical calculations. This technique allows an experiment such as quantum simulations to be performed with a lattice spacing smaller than the resolution limit of the imaging system, while allowing imaging of the atoms at individual lattice sites by subsequent expansion of the optical lattice.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes made and references update

Observation of vortex nucleation in a rotating two-dimensional lattice of Bose-Einstein condensates

We report the observation of vortex nucleation in a rotating optical lattice. A 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate was loaded into a static two-dimensional lattice and the rotation frequency of the lattice was then increased from zero. We studied how vortex nucleation depended on optical lattice depth and rotation frequency. For deep lattices above the chemical potential of the condensate we observed a linear dependence of the number of vortices created with the rotation frequency,even below the thermodynamic critical frequency required for vortex nucleation. At these lattice depths the system formed an array of Josephson-coupled condensates. The effective magnetic field produced by rotation introduced characteristic relative phases between neighbouring condensates, such that vortices were observed upon ramping down the lattice depth and recombining the condensates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Experimental observation of the 'Tilting Mode' of an array of vortices in a dilute Bose-Einstein Condensate

We have measured the precession frequency of a vortex lattice in a Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms. The observed mode corresponds to a collective motion in which all the vortices in the array are tilted by a small angle with respect to the z-axis (the symmetry axis of the trapping potential) and synchronously rotate about this axis. This motion corresponds to excitation of a Kelvin wave along the core of each vortex and we have verified that it has the handedness expected for such helical waves, i.e. precession in the opposite sense to the rotational flow around the vortices. The experimental method used to excite this collective mode closely resembles that used to study the scissors mode and excitation of the scissors mode for a condensate containing a vortex array was used to determine the angular momentum of the system. Indeed, the collective tilting of the array that we have observed has previously been referred to as an `anomalous' scissors mode.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures to be published in PR