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Using ion production to monitor the birth and death of a metastable helium Bose-Einstein condensate

S. Seidelin, O. Sirjean, J. Viana Gomes, D. Boiron, C. I. Westbrook, A. Aspect

cond-matarXiv:cond-mat/0211112

Abstract

We discuss observations of the ion flux from a cloud of trapped metastable helium atoms. Both Bose-Einstein condensates and thermal clouds were investigated. The ion flux is compared to time-of-flight observations of the expanded cloud. We show data concerning BEC formation and decay, as well as measurements of two- and three-body ionization rate constants. We also discuss possible improvements and extensions of our results.

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