Observation of superfluid flow in a bose-einstein condensed Gas
We have studied the hydrodynamic flow in a Bose-Einstein condensate stirred by a macroscopic object, a blue-detuned laser beam, using nondestructive in situ phase contrast imaging. A critical velocity for the onset of a pressure gradient has been observed, and shown to be density dependent. The technique has been compared to a calorimetric method used previously to measure the heating induced by the motion of the laser beam.
Onofrio
R
Department of Physics and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Raman
C
Vogels
JM
Abo-Shaeer
JR
Chikkatur
AP
Ketterle
W