462 research outputs found
Out-of-phase oscillation between superfluid and thermal components for a trapped Bose condensate under oscillatory excitation
The vortex nucleation and the emergence of quantum turbulence induced by
oscillating magnetic fields, introduced by Henn E A L, et al. 2009 (Phys. Rev.
A 79, 043619) and Henn E A L, et al. 2009 (Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 045301), left
a few open questions concerning the basic mechanisms causing those interesting
phenomena. Here, we report the experimental observation of the slosh dynamics
of a magnetically trapped Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) under the
influence of a time-varying magnetic field. We observed a clear relative
displacement in between the condensed and the thermal fraction center-of-mass.
We have identified this relative counter move as an out-of-phase oscillation
mode, which is able to produce ripples on the condensed/thermal fractions
interface. The out-of-phase mode can be included as a possible mechanism
involved in the vortex nucleation and further evolution when excited by time
dependent magnetic fields.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 25 reference
Photoassociative ionization of Na inside a storage ring
Motivated by recent interest in low dimensional arrays of atoms, we
experimentally investigated the way cold collisional processes are affected by
the geometry of the considered atomic sample. More specifically, we studied the
case of photoassociative ionization (PAI) both in a storage ring where
collision is more unidirectional in character and in a trap with clear
undefinition of collision axis. First, creating a ring shaped trap (atomotron)
we investigated two-color PAI dependence with intensity and polarization of a
probing laser. The intensity dependence of the PAI rate was also measured in a
magneto-optical trap presenting equivalent temperature and density conditions.
Indeed, the results show that in the ring trap, the value of the PAI rate
constant is much lower and does not show evidences of saturation, unlike in the
case of the 3D-MOT. Cold atomic collisions in storage ring may represent new
possibilities for study.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; Accepted by Optics Communicatio
Injection locking of a low cost high power laser diode at 461 nm
Stable laser sources at 461 nm are important for optical cooling of strontium
atoms. In most existing experiments this wavelength is obtained by frequency
doubling infrared lasers, since blue laser diodes either have low power or
large emission bandwidths. Here, we show that injecting less than 10 mW of
monomode laser radiation into a blue multimode 500 mW high power laser diode is
capable of slaving at least 50% of the power to the desired frequency. We
verify the emission bandwidth reduction by saturation spectroscopy on a
strontium gas cell and by direct beating of the slave with the master laser. We
also demonstrate that the laser can efficiently be used within the Zeeman
slower for optical cooling of a strontium atomic beam.Comment: 2nd corrected version (minor revisions); Manuscript accepted for
publication in Review of Scientific Instruments; 5 pages, 6 figure
Route to turbulence in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate
We have studied a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms under an
oscillatory excitation. For a fixed frequency of excitation, we have explored
how the values of amplitude and time of excitation must be combined in order to
produce quantum turbulence in the condensate. Depending on the combination of
these parameters different behaviors are observed in the sample. For the lowest
values of time and amplitude of excitation, we observe a bending of the main
axis of the cloud. Increasing the amplitude of excitation we observe an
increasing number of vortices. The vortex state can evolve into the turbulent
regime if the parameters of excitation are driven up to a certain set of
combinations. If the value of the parameters of these combinations is exceeded,
all vorticity disappears and the condensate enters into a different regime
which we have identified as the granular phase. Our results are summarized in a
diagram of amplitude versus time of excitation in which the different
structures can be identified. We also present numerical simulations of the
Gross-Pitaevskii equation which support our observations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Three-vortex configurations in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
We report on the creation of three-vortex clusters in a
Bose-Einstein condensate by oscillatory excitation of the condensate. This
procedure can create vortices of both circulation, so that we are able to
create several types of vortex clusters using the same mechanism. The
three-vortex configurations are dominated by two types, namely, an
equilateral-triangle arrangement and a linear arrangement. We interpret these
most stable configurations respectively as three vortices with the same
circulation, and as a vortex-antivortex-vortex cluster. The linear
configurations are very likely the first experimental signatures of predicted
stationary vortex clusters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Comparison between 403 nm and 497 nm repumping schemes for strontium magneto-optical traps
The theoretical description of the external degrees of freedom of atoms trapped inside a magneto-optical trap (MOT) often relies on the decoupling of the evolution of the internal and external degrees of freedom. That is possible thanks to much shorter timescales typically associated with the first ones. The electronic structure of alkaline-earth atoms, on the other hand, presents ultra-narrow transitions and metastable states that makes such an approximation invalid in the general case. In this article, we report on a model based on open Bloch equations for the evolution of the number of atoms in a magneto-optical trap. With this model we investigate the loading of the strontium blue magneto-optical trap under different repumping schemes, either directly from a Zeeman slower, or from an atomic reservoir made of atoms in a metastable state trapped in the magnetic quadrupolar field. The fluorescence observed on the strong 461~nm transition is recorded and quantitatively compared with the results from our simulations. The comparison between experimental results and calculations within our model allowed to identify the existence of the decay paths between the upper level of the repumping transition and the dark strontium metastable states, which could not be explained by electric dipole transition rates calculated in the literature. Moreover, our analysis pinpoints the role of the atomic movement in limiting the efficiency of the atomic repumping of the Sr metastable states
Equation of state for a trapped quantum gas: remnant of zero-point energy effects
The study of the thermodynamic properties of trapped gases has attracted great attention during the last few years and can be used as a tool to characterize such clouds in the presence of other phenomena. Here, we obtain an equation of state for a harmonically trapped Bose–Einstein condensate taking the limit of by means of global themodynamic variables. These variables allow us to explore limits in which the standard thermodynamics are not defined. Our results are taken in the high density limit, and the extrapolation for is done later. Even in this situation, we qualitatively observe the well known existence of a zero-point energy for harmonic potentials in which the determination of conjugated variables is limited by the quantum nature of the system
Observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in an atomic trap in terms of macroscopic thermodynamic parameters
To overcome the difficulties in defining pressure for a gas confined in an inhomogeneous trap, we define single macroscopic parameters that behave like pressure and volume. We measure the phase diagram of a 87Rb Bose gas in a harmonic trap in terms of those macroscopic parameters obtained from the spatial distribution of atoms. Considering the relevant variables such as the trap potential V=(ωxωyωz)−1, number of atoms N, and temperature T, a parameter Π=Π(N,V,T) is introduced to characterize the overall macroscopic pressure of the system. We construct the phase diagram (Π vs T) identifying the main features related to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) transition in a trapped gas. A thermodynamic description of the phase transition based on purely macroscopic parameters provides us with a description that does not need the local-density approximation. This procedure can be used to explore different aspects related to BEC such as the nature of the phase transition in a trapped gas.FAPESPCNPqCAPESUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IN-116110
Spin-wave scattering at low temperatures in manganite films
The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the resistivity
has been measured for LaSrMnO (y=0 and 0.128)
films grown on (100) SrTiO substrates. The low-temperature in the
ferromagnetic metallic region follows well with being the residual resistivity. We attribute the second and third term to
small-polaron and spin-wave scattering, respectively. Our analysis based on
these scattering mechanisms also gives the observed difference between the
metal-insulator transition temperatures of the films studied. Transport
measurements in applied magnetic field further indicate that spin-wave
scattering is a key transport mechanism at low temperatures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev.
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