99 research outputs found
Instabilities and the roton spectrum of a quasi-1D Bose-Einstein condensed gas with dipole-dipole interactions
We point out the possibility of having a roton-type excitation spectrum in a
quasi-1D Bose-Einstein condensate with dipole-dipole interactions. Normally
such a system is quite unstable due to the attractive portion of the dipolar
interaction. However, by reversing the sign of the dipolar interaction using
either a rotating magnetic field or a laser with circular polarization, a
stable cigar-shaped configuration can be achieved whose spectrum contains a
`roton' minimum analogous to that found in helium II. Dipolar gases also offer
the exciting prospect to tune the depth of this `roton' minimum by directly
controlling the interparticle interaction strength. When the minimum touches
the zero-energy axis the system is once again unstable, possibly to the
formation of a density wave.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Special Issue: "Ultracold Polar Molecules:
Formation and Collisions
Observing collapse in two colliding dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates
We study the collision of two Bose-Einstein condensates with pure dipolar
interaction. A stationary pure dipolar condensate is known to be stable when
the atom number is below a critical value. However, collapse can occur during
the collision between two condensates due to local density fluctuations even if
the total atom number is only a fraction of the critical value. Using full
three-dimensional numerical simulations, we observe the collapse induced by
local density fluctuations. For the purpose of future experiments, we present
the time dependence of the density distribution, energy per particle and the
maximal density of the condensate. We also discuss the collapse time as a
function of the relative phase between the two condensates.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Strong dipolar effects in a quantum ferrofluid
We report on the realization of a Chromium Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)
with strong dipolar interaction. By using a Feshbach resonance, we reduce the
usual isotropic contact interaction, such that the anisotropic magnetic
dipole-dipole interaction between 52Cr atoms becomes comparable in strength.
This induces a change of the aspect ratio of the cloud, and, for strong dipolar
interaction, the inversion of ellipticity during expansion - the usual "smoking
gun" evidence for BEC - can even be suppressed. These effects are accounted for
by taking into account the dipolar interaction in the superfluid hydrodynamic
equations governing the dynamics of the gas, in the same way as classical
ferrofluids can be described by including dipolar terms in the classical
hydrodynamic equations. Our results are a first step in the exploration of the
unique properties of quantum ferrofluids.Comment: Final, published versio
Depolarisation cooling of an atomic cloud
We propose a cooling scheme based on depolarisation of a polarised cloud of
trapped atoms. Similar to adiabatic demagnetisation, we suggest to use the
coupling between the internal spin reservoir of the cloud and the external
kinetic reservoir via dipolar relaxation to reduce the temperature of the
cloud. By optical pumping one can cool the spin reservoir and force the cooling
process. In case of a trapped gas of dipolar chromium atoms, we show that this
cooling technique can be performed continuously and used to approach the
critical phase space density for BECComment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Expansion dynamics of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate
Our recent measurements on the expansion of a chromium dipolar condensate
after release from an optical trapping potential are in good agreement with an
exact solution of the hydrodynamic equations for dipolar Bose gases. We report
here the theoretical method used to interpret the measurement data as well as
more details of the experiment and its analysis. The theory reported here is a
tool for the investigation of different dynamical situations in time-dependent
harmonic traps.Comment: 12 pages. Submitted to PR
Dipolar Relaxation in an ultra-cold Gas of magnetically trapped chromium atoms
We have investigated both theoretically and experimentally dipolar relaxation
in a gas of magnetically trapped chromium atoms. We have found that the large
magnetic moment of 6 results in an event rate coefficient for dipolar
relaxation processes of up to cms at a magnetic
field of 44 G. We present a theoretical model based on pure dipolar coupling,
which predicts dipolar relaxation rates in agreement with our experimental
observations. This very general approach can be applied to a large variety of
dipolar gases.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Observation of dipole-dipole interaction in a degenerate quantum gas
We have investigated the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of
strongly magnetic chromium atoms. The long-range and anisotropic magnetic
dipole-dipole interaction leads to an anisotropic deformation of the expanding
Cr-BEC which depends on the orientation of the atomic dipole moments. Our
measurements are consistent with the theory of dipolar quantum gases and show
that a Cr-BEC is an excellent model system to study dipolar interactions in
such gases.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Production of a chromium Bose-Einstein condensate
The recent achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation of chromium atoms [1]
has opened longed-for experimental access to a degenerate quantum gas with
long-range and anisotropic interaction. Due to the large magnetic moment of
chromium atoms of 6 {}B, in contrast to other Bose- Einstein condensates
(BECs), magnetic dipole-dipole interaction plays an important role in a
chromium BEC. Many new physical properties of degenerate gases arising from
these magnetic forces have been predicted in the past and can now be studied
experimentally. Besides these phenomena, the large dipole moment leads to a
breakdown of standard methods for the creation of a chromium BEC. Cooling and
trapping methods had to be adapted to the special electronic structure of
chromium to reach the regime of quantum degeneracy. Some of them apply
generally to gases with large dipolar forces. We present here a detailed
discussion of the experimental techniques which are used to create a chromium
BEC and alow us to produce pure condensates with up to {} atoms in an
optical dipole trap. We also describe the methods used to determine the
trapping parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure
Rotons in gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates irradiated by a laser
A gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) irradiated by a far off-resonance
laser has long-range interatomic correlations caused by laser-induced
dipole-dipole interactions. These correlations, which are tunable via the laser
intensity and frequency, can produce a `roton' minimum in the excitation
spectrum--behavior reminiscent of the strongly correlated superfluid liquid
helium II.Comment: 6 pages, includes 3 figure
Ground state and elementary excitations of single and binary Bose-Einstein condensates of trapped dipolar gases
We analyze the ground-state properties and the excitation spectrum of
Bose-Einstein condensates of trapped dipolar particles. First, we consider the
case of a single-component polarized dipolar gas. For this case we discuss the
influence of the trapping geometry on the stability of the condensate as well
as the effects of the dipole-dipole interaction on the excitation spectrum. We
discuss also the ground state and excitations of a gas composed of two
antiparallel dipolar components.Comment: 12 pages, 9 eps figures, final versio
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