Towards the study of topological defects in 87-Rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate

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This project is totally experimental. The set-up generates a 3-dimensional 87-Rb Bose-Einstein condensate by all-optical methods. This means that rubidium atoms macroscopically occupy the lowest energy state below a certain critical temperature showing a collective behaviour. The main objective of the project is the study of different kind of non-linear dynamic effects over the condensate. These dynamics depend on the type of interactions between the bosons which give rise to vortices or solitons, for example. These two phenomena are well studied theoretically and experimentally and they are the first cases which will be studied first in our experiment. When this first objective will be reached, more complex cases will be studied. In order to generate these complex effects it is necessary an opto-electronic device called spatial light modulator (SLM). This device allows the emission of any kind of light pattern when is shined by a laser source. This pattern will be interact with the atoms of the condensate given rise to these non-linear dynamics. This device is currently installed in the set-up and it is being tested in order to reproduce the mentioned cases. Note: the student has now transferred to a master's degree.