Using ion production to monitor the birth and death of a metastable helium Bose–Einstein condensate
S Seidelin; O Sirjean; J Viana Gomes; D Boiron; C I Westbrook; A Aspect; S Seidelin; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France; O Sirjean; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France; J Viana Gomes; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France; D Boiron; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France; C I Westbrook; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France; A Aspect; Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France
Журнал:
Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics
Дата:
2003-04-01
Аннотация:
We discuss observations of the ion flux from a cloud of trapped 2<sup>3</sup>S<sub>1</sub> metastable helium atoms. Both Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) and thermal clouds were investigated. The ion flux is compared with time-of-flight observations of the expanded cloud. We show data concerning BEC formation and decay, as well as measurements of two-and three-body ionization rate constants. We also discuss possible improvements and extensions of our results.
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