Condensed Matter Seminar

Subhadeep Gupta
University of California, Berkeley

Thursday, February 23, 2006
1:00 pm in SPL 52

Ultracold Atoms and Bose-Einstein Condensates in Storage Rings and Optical Cavities

Abstract: Standard methods of atom trapping and cooling can now routinely produce samples of ultracold (nanoKelvin) gases. At such temperatures, bosonic atoms may undergo a transition to a laser-like state, the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). The low energies involved allow near arbitrary manipulation of ultracold systems and BECs using modest electromagnetic fields. These systems can thus impact a variety of areas including condensed matter physics, atom interferometry and quantum optics. In this talk, I will describe two ultracold atomic systems that we have been developing. By cooling rubidium atoms in a novel magnetic trap, we have produced BECs in a few-millimeter diameter storage ring. We have studied the propagation characteristics of BECs launched into circulation around this ring. The system shows promise as an atom interferometric rotation sensor. Progress on another research effort integrating ultracold atoms and high-finesse optical cavities will also be presented. This experiment features atoms magnetically trapped within an optical cavity and will allow in-situ, single-atom level studies and uses of ultracold atoms and BECs.