Presidential Young Investigator Award: Laser Cooling and Atom Trapping (Physics)

总统青年研究员奖：激光冷却和原子捕获（物理学）

• 批准号: 8957367
• 负责人: Randall Hulet
• 金额: $ 21.2万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-08-15 至 1996-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8957367&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Presidential; Young; Investigator; Award; Laser

This Presidential Young Investigator Award concerns laser cooling and atom trapping. The interaction between atoms at ultra-low temperatures will be studied. With a sufficiently dense and cold gas one can hope to observe collective atomic effects, in particular a Bose-Einstein condensation of weakly interacting particles of integral spin. It is necessary to design approaches to maximize the ratio of atomic de Broglie wavelength to interatomic separation, in order to enhance the quantum effects. Lithium will be used in the initial experiments. Atoms will be spin-aligned, trapped in a magnetic field minimum, cooled in two laser cooling steps. The rates of inelastic collision processes within the trap will be measured. The gas will then be further cooled and compressed in the attempt to observe Bose-Einstein condensation.

这项总统青年研究人员奖涉及激光冷却和原子捕获。我们将研究超低温下原子间的相互作用。有了足够稠密和寒冷的气体，人们就有望观察到集体原子效应，特别是自旋为整数的弱相互作用粒子的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚。为了增强量子效应，有必要设计一种方法来最大化原子的德布罗意波长与原子间距离的比值。锂将用于最初的实验。原子将是自旋排列的，在磁场最小的情况下被捕获，分两个激光冷却步骤进行冷却。将测量陷阱内非弹性碰撞过程的速率。然后，气体将被进一步冷却和压缩，以尝试观察玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚。