BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE

BACKGROUND

 For decades the existence of a fifth, low energy form of matter, known as the Bose-Einstein Condensates,
was only a theoretical possibility. Until in 2001, the Nobel Prize for Physics went to Eric Cornell, Wolfgang
Ketterle and carl Wieman, who used lasers, magnets and evaporative cooling to bring out this fascinating
new phase of matter
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE

 (BEC) Is a state of matter of a dilute gas of bosons cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (-
273.15*C). Under such conditions, a large fraction of bosons occupy the lowest quantum state, at which
point microscopic quantum phenomena, particularly wave function interference, become apparent
macroscopically. A BEC is formed by cooling a gas of extremely low density, about one-hundred-thousandth
the density of normal air, to ultra low temperatures
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE

 To make BEC you start with a cloud of diffuse gas. Many experiments start with atoms of rubidium. Then
you cool it with lasers. Using the beams to take energy away from the atoms. After, to cool them farther
scientists use evaporative cooling. “You cool it down but it doesn’t form a lattice like a solid”
 Instead, the atoms fall into the same quantum states and can’t be distinguished from one another. At that point
the atoms start obeying that what are called Bose-Einstein statistics which are usually applied to particles you
can’t tell apart such as photons
BECs are not like the forms of
matter you are most familiar
with such as solids and liquids.
This form of matter is not
vaporous like a gas or fluid like
a liquid or hard like solid. It is
created in a realm of quantum
mechanics (also called
quantum physics). To make
BEC, scientists use a gas that is
less dense than the air we
breathe, like rubidium
 At the time, none of the necessary technology was
available to make BECs in the lab: cryonics were
extremely limited and the first laser wasn’t built till 1960.
The fine control allowed by modern computers was also
perquisite. Because of all technological hurdles, it wasn’t
until 1995 that experimenters were able to force rubidium
atoms to form this type of condensate
 This transition to BEC occurs below a critical
temperature, which for a uniform three-dimensional gas
consisting of non-interacting particles with no apparent
internal degrees of freedom is given by:
 A BEC is a group of atoms cooled to within a temperature of absolute zero. When they reach that
temperature the atoms are hardly moving relatively to each other; they have almost no free energy
to do so. At that point, the atoms begin to clump together and enter the same energy states. They
become identical, from a physical point of view the whole group starts behaving as thou it was a
single atom
 They are effectively super atoms, groups of atoms that behave as one
 They are effectively super atoms, groups of atoms that behave as one