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，物理系统的属性可以表现出不寻常的和惊人的行为。其中一种行为是超流性，它是一种协调的流体流动，没有任何粘度。原子之间碰撞的基本性质在低温下也是不寻常的;例如，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“迎面”的。该项目研究了超流体中原子对之间的个体碰撞与超流体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。后者需要理解和检测超流体响应外部影响（如旋转）的动力学行为。这两个要求都可以在稀气体玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体中得到满足，这是一种在1995年首次观察到的极冷物质形式（并在2001年获得诺贝尔奖）。最近在成像和控制原子间相互作用的实验创新，在首席研究员的实验室和其他地方开发，将被扩展和应用到旋转玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚系统。进一步的实验工作包括研究两种不同超流体之间相互作用的基本物理过程。这项尖端科学研究在本科院校进行，为未来的年轻科学家提供了有意义的研究机会，而不是在大型研究型大学进行。这些机会是提供给一个异常广泛的潜在的未来科学家的领导学院在提高社会经济多样性所表现出的结果池。经验还告诉我们，基础物理学的研究不可避免地会使我们对更复杂的过程有更深入的了解，从而使我们能够成功地将所获得的知识应用于整个科学和工程领域的具体问题。这里探索的实验研究，特别是关于其对双凝聚体中原子间相互作用的关注，可能会导致旋转和磁场传感器，原子钟和中性原子量子计算机的发展的改进。

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.