title: Controlled collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate.
abstract: The point of instability of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) due to attractive interactions was studied. Stable 85Rb BECs were created and then caused to collapse by slowly changing the atom-atom interaction from repulsive to attractive using a Feshbach resonance. At a critical value, an abrupt transition was observed in which atoms were ejected from the condensate. By measuring the onset of this transition as a function of number and attractive interaction strength, we determined the stability condition to be N(absolute value of a) / a(ho) = 0.459+/-0.012+/-0.054, slightly lower than the predicted value of 0.574.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Claussen
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cornish
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Donley
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cornell
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Wieman