BEC

Buffer-Gas BEC project

People

• Charlie Doret (emeritus)
• Colin Connolly
• Yat Shan Au

Overview

Despite innumerable experimental advances, research with degenerate Bose and Fermi gases has remained limited to only a handful of atomic species since its inception due to the field's reliance on laser pre-cooling as the first step towards quantum degeneracy. Developmening new cooling methods applicable to a wider range of atoms and to molecules is thus an important step towards realizing scientific opportunities in new areas. We have utilized buffer-gas methods to demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation of <math>^4</math>He* without the use of laser pre-cooling. These methods are readily extendable to any paramagnetic species with typical collisional parameters that allow for efficient evaporative cooling, significantly extending the scope of ultracold atom/molecule research.

Recent Publications

• Media:A buffer-gas cooled Bose-Einstein condensate, S. C. Doret, C. B. Connolly, W. Ketterle, and J. M. Doyle, to be published by Phys. Rev. Lett. 2009.

• Media:Evaporative cooling of metastable helium in the multi-partial wave regime, S. V. Nguyen, S. C. Doret, C. B. Connolly, W. Ketterle, and J. M. Doyle, Phys. Rev. A 72 060703(R), (2005).