Rubidium Bose-Einstein Condensate


Rubidium Bose-Einstein Condensate

The Rubidium BEC setup is our oldest and longest running experiment. We create a BEC of around 105 Rubidium atoms in a crossed optical dipole trap. We are currently using it to implement a Momentum Space Lattice (MSL) with the BEC to simulate various one- dimensional lattice-based Hamiltonians. We use two optical beams travelling in opposite direction to give momentum kicks of unit 2hk to the atom. This creates a lattice of momentum states with 0, 2hk, 4hk etc. It can be used to simulate various quantum mechanical systems. For example, we are currently implementing the Su-Schreifer-Heeger model which describes the electronic structure of polyacetylene molecule. The BEC system has been used in the past for study of non-linear dynamics using solitons, creating an atom laser, atom-optics kicked rotor and gravimetry. We are currently also looking at spin-squeezing and other techniques to improve the sensitivity of our gravimeter.
SEM Image
Fig B: Time-of-flight images of BEC phase transition
Plasmonic Structure
Fig A: Rb MOT