RUI: Experiments with Bose-Einstein Condensates

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。在极低的温度下，物理系统的特性可能会表现出不寻常和惊人的行为。一种这样的行为是超流，这是一种没有任何粘性的协调流体流动。原子间碰撞的基本性质在低温下也是不寻常的；例如，在超流体中，一对超冷原子之间的每一次碰撞在某种意义上都是“正面碰撞”。这个项目考察了超流内部原子对之间的个别碰撞和超流本身的集体行为之间的关系。前者要求必须理解和很好地控制单个原子之间的相互作用。后者需要了解和检测超流体在外界影响下的动力学行为，例如旋转。这两个要求都可以在稀薄气体玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚物中得到满足，这是一种极冷的物质形式，于1995年首次观测到(2001年诺贝尔奖因此而获奖)。最近在成像和控制原子间相互作用方面的实验创新，在首席研究员的实验室和其他地方开发，将扩展并应用于旋转的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系统。进一步的实验工作包括研究两个不同的超流体之间相互作用所涉及的基本物理过程。这项尖端科学研究在一所本科学院进行，为明天的年轻科学家在他们职业生涯的早期阶段提供有意义的研究机会，而不是通常在大型研究型大学中可能的机会。由于该学院在增强社会经济多样性方面表现出的领导力，这些机会可以提供给异常广泛的潜在未来科学家。经验还告诉我们，基础物理学的研究不可避免地会导致对更复杂过程的更好理解，从而成功地将所获得的知识应用于整个科学和工程中的特定问题。这里探索的实验研究，特别是关于它对双凝聚中原子间相互作用的关注，可能会导致旋转和磁场传感器、原子钟的改进，以及中性原子量子计算机的发展。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).At extremely low temperatures, the properties of physical systems can manifest unusual and striking behavior. One such behavior is superfluidity, which is a coordinated fluid flow without any viscosity. The fundamental properties of collisions between atoms are also unusual at low temperatures; for instance, every collision between a pair of ultracold atoms in a superfluid is in some sense ``head-on.'' This project examines the relationship between the individual collisions between pairs of atoms within the superfluid and the collective behavior of the superfluid itself. The former requires that the interaction between individual atoms must be understood and well-controlled. The latter requires an understanding and detection of the dynamical behavior of a superfluid in response to external influences, such as rotation. Both of these requirements can be met within a dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensate, an extremely cold form of matter first observed in 1995 (and for which observation the Nobel Prize was awarded in 2001). Recent experimental innovations in imaging and controlling interatomic interactions, developed in the principal investigator's laboratory and elsewhere, will be extended and applied to systems of rotating Bose-Einstein condensates. Further experimental work involves an examination of the fundamental physical processes involved in the interaction between two distinct superfluids.This cutting-edge scientific research is carried out at an undergraduate college, providing meaningful research opportunities to tomorrow's young scientists at earlier stages of their careers than is typically possible at large research universities. These opportunities are available to an unusually wide pool of potential future scientists as a result of the leadership the college has demonstrated in enhancing socioeconomic diversity. Experience also teaches that research in fundamental physics leads inevitably to greater understanding of more complex processes, and thence to successful application of acquired knowledge to specific problems throughout science and engineering. The experimental research explored here, particularly with regard to its focus on interatomic interactions in double condensates, may lead to improvements in rotational and magnetic field sensors, atomic clocks, and the development of neutral-atom quantum computers.