Skip to content

Avalanches in a Bose-Einstein condensate

J. Schuster, A. Marte, S. Amtage, B. Sang, G. Rempe, H. C. W. Beijerinck

cond-matarXiv:cond-mat/0106373

Abstract

Collisional avalanches are identified to be responsible for an 8-fold increase of the initial loss rate of a large 87-Rb condensate. We show that the collisional opacity of an ultra-cold gas exhibits a critical value. When exceeded, losses due to inelastic collisions are substantially enhanced. Under these circumstances, reaching the hydrodynamic regime in conventional BEC experiments is highly questionable.

Create a lesson