Growth of Bose-Einstein Condensates from Thermal Vapor

M. Köhl; M. J. Davis; C. W. Gardiner; T. W. Hänsch; T. Esslinger

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.080402

Growth of Bose-Einstein Condensates from Thermal Vapor

M. Köhl, M. J. Davis, C. W. Gardiner, T. W. Hänsch, and T. Esslinger

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 080402 – Published 8 February 2002

Abstract

We report on a quantitative study of the growth process of $^{87} Rb$ Bose-Einstein condensates. By continuous evaporative cooling we directly control the thermal cloud from which the condensate grows. We compare the experimental data with the results of a theoretical model based on quantum kinetic theory. We find quantitative agreement with theory for the situation of strong cooling, whereas in the weak cooling regime a distinctly different behavior is found in the experiment.

Received 29 June 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.080402

Authors & Affiliations

M. Köhl^1,2,3,*, M. J. Davis^4,5, C. W. Gardiner⁶, T. W. Hänsch^1,2, and T. Esslinger^1,2,3

¹Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Schellingstrasse 4/III, D-80799 Munich, Germany
²Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching, Germany
³Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
⁴Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
⁵Department of Physics, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
⁶School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand