Darmstadt 2008 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 4: Quantum gases II (jointly with Q)

A 4.5: Gruppenbericht

Montag, 10. März 2008, 18:30–19:00, 1A

First Bose-Einstein Condensate in microgravity — •Tim van Zoest¹, Wojtek Lewoczko-Adamczyk², and Anika Vogel³ for the QUANTUS collaboration — ¹Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz-Universität Hannover — ²Institut für Physik, Humboldt Universität Berlin — ³Institut für Laserphysik, Universität Hamburg

Promising techniques for fundamental tests in the quantum domain are matter-wave sensors based on cold atoms, which use atoms as unperturbed microscopic test bodies for measuring inertial forces or as frequency references. Microgravity is of high relevance for matter-wave interferometers and experiments with quantum matter, like Bose-Einstein-condensates , as it permits the extension of an unperturbed free fall in a low-noise environment.

The project QUANTUS is a feasibility study of a compact, robust and mobile experiment for the creation of a BEC in a weightlessness environment at the droptower in Bremen (ZARM). The experiment has to be implemented in a dropcapsule with a length of 215 cm and 60 cm diameter and has to withstand forces up to 50 g (1). The experimental setup as well as the latest results, the realization of the first weightlessness Bose-Einstein Condensate with longest time of flights and the adiabatic expansion to very shallow traps (less than 20 Hz), are described. In future, the apparatus will serve as an experimental platform to investigate various aspects of ultra-cold gases in microgravity like adiabatic release, extended coherent evolution and features of atom lasers.

(1) A. Vogel et al., Appl. Phys. B, 84, 04 (2006)