Bose-Einstein condensation in microgravity.
Albert Einstein's insight that it is impossible to distinguish a local experiment in a "freely falling elevator" from one in free space led to the development of the theory of general relativity. The wave nature of matter manifests itself in a striking way in Bose-Einstein condensates, where millions of atoms lose their identity and can be described by a single macroscopic wave function. We combine these two topics and report the preparation and observation of a Bose-Einstein condensate during free fall in a 146-meter-tall evacuated drop tower. During the expansion over 1 second, the atoms form a giant coherent matter wave that is delocalized on a millimeter scale, which represents a promising source for matter-wave interferometry to test the universality of free fall with quantum matter.
van Zoest
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Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
Gaaloul
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Singh
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Y
Ahlers
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Herr
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W
Seidel
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ST
Ertmer
W
W
Rasel
E
E
Eckart
M
M
Kajari
E
E
Arnold
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S
Nandi
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Schleich
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WP
Walser
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R
Vogel
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A
Sengstock
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K
Bongs
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Lewoczko-Adamczyk
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W
Schiemangk
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M
Schuldt
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Peters
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A
Könemann
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Müntinga
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H
Lämmerzahl
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C
Dittus
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Steinmetz
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Hänsch
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Reichel
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