Bose-Einstein Condensation of Metastable Helium

Abstract

We have observed a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a dilute gas of $^4$He in the $2^3S_1$ metastable state. We find a critical temperature of $(4.7\pm0.5) μ$K and a typical number of atoms at the threshold of $8\times10^6$. The maximum number of atoms in our condensate is about $5\times10^5$. An approximate value for the scattering length $a=(16\pm8)$ nm is measured. The elastic collision rate is then estimated to be about $5\times10^4$ s$^{-1}$, indicating that we are deeply in the hydrodynamic regime. The typical decay time of the condensate is 2 s which places an upper bound on the rate constants for 2-body and 3-body inelastic collisions.