Bose-Einstein Condensation

Current Personnel: Changhyun, Wooshik, Emek, Nathan, Samaresh, and Brett

Left: Several group members model for the camera in a completely natural, unchoreographed fashion
Right: Emek takes an important lithium related telephone call in the "Alkali Crisis Center"

Experimental Goals:

Develop a reliable method for production of Bose-condensed molecules
Explore unique properties (including lifetimes, collision rates, and level spectroscopy) of molecules that have been Bose-condensed
Have a stompin' good time

Recent Results:

Our BEC makin' machine has provided lots of late nights for several past graduate students. However, the latest results are possibly the most interesting. Riley and Roahn (both now gone) were able to show evidence for a condensate that oscillated between being predominantly molecular to being atomic. They were also able to perform spectroscopy on the levels involved, achieving extremely narrow linewidths. Further experimentation allowed them to discover a value for the scattering length: -180 ± 150 a₀.

The chamber for the BEC experiment. The Rubidium is heated in the oven, just off the photo on the left. The atomic beam then goes through the slower and into the chamber on the right.