RUI: Bose-Einstein Condensates with Vortices and Tunable Interactions

Amherst College, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This experimental research program focuses on experiments k in Feshbach resonances, multiple-condensate systems, and vortex states. The program will use experiments to vary the strength of the atomic interactions in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of Rb-87, with an attention to the physics of component separation in binary BECs and vortex states in the noninteracting limit of single-component BECs. The work will contribute directly to the understanding of vortices and superfluidity in dilute Bose gases. The broader impact of this work falls primarily within the relationship of cutting-edge experimental BEC research to undergraduate education. Undergraduate researchers easily use the operating BEC apparatus. Indeed, the apparatus exists exclusively for their use, with no competition from graduate students. At the same time, the laboratory hosts visits by undergraduate classes from colleges throughout the region, developing and expanding the interest in the exciting fields of atom trapping and cooling and Bose-Einstein condensation.