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.
Fig B: Time-of-flight images of BEC phase transition
Fig A: Rb MOT
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