1. Dynamically Slowed Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Negative Scattering Length
- Author
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Compton, R. L., Lin, Y. -J., Jimenez-Garcia, K., Porto, J. V., and Spielman, I. B.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases ,Physics - Atomic Physics - Abstract
We rapidly change the scattering length a_s of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate by means of a Feshbach resonance, simultaneously releasing the condensate from its harmonic trapping potential. When a_s is changed from positive to negative, the subsequent collapse of the condensate is stabilized by the kinetic energy imparted during the release, resulting in a deceleration of the loss rate near the resonance. We also observe an increase in the Thomas-Fermi radius, near the resonance, that cannot be understood in terms of a simple scaling model. Instead, we describe this behavior using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, including three-body recombination, and hypothesize that the increase in cloud radius is due to the formation of concentric shells., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Updated to published version
- Published
- 2012
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