Applications in Bose-Einstein Condensation
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) requires conditions of very high density and very low temperature in a gas of atoms. Laser cooling in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) is typically used to cool atoms down to the microkelvin range. However, laser cooling is limited by the momentum recoils an atom receives from single photons. Achieving BEC requires cooling the atoms beyond the limits of laser cooling, which means the lasers used in the MOT must be turned off and a new method of trapping devised. Magnetic traps have been used to hold very cold atoms, while evaporative cooling has reduced the temperature of the atoms enough to reach BEC.
Read more about this topic: Magnetic Trap (atoms)
Famous quotes containing the word condensation:
“Entification begins at arm’s length; the points of condensation in the primordial conceptual scheme are things glimpsed, not glimpses.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)