Direct, Nondestructive Observation of a Bose Condensate
The spatial observation of a Bose condensate is reported. Dispersive light scattering was used to observe the separation between the condensed and normal components of the Bose gas inside a magnetic trap. This technique is nondestructive, and about a hundred images of the same condensate can be taken. The width of the angular distribution of scattered light increased suddenly at the phase transition.
Andrews
MR
Department of Physics and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Mewes
M
van Druten NJ
Durfee
DS
Kurn
DM
Ketterle
W