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dc.contributor.advisorWolfgang Ketterle.en_US
dc.contributor.authorXu, Kaiwenen_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2007-04-20T15:51:35Z
dc.date.available2007-04-20T15:51:35Z
dc.date.copyright2006en_US
dc.date.issued2006en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37214
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2006.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 150-167).en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis discusses a series of studies that investigate the effects of interaction - essentially the s-wave scattering - in the various properties of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). The phonon wavefunction in a BEC was measured using Bragg spectroscopy and compared with the well-known Bogoliubov theory. Phonons were first excited in a BEC of 3 x 107 condensed 23Na atoms via small-angle two-photon Bragg scattering. Large angle Bragg scattering was then used to probe the momentum distribution. We found reasonable agreement with the theory. With the same technique of Bragg diffraction, we studied the four-wave mixing process for matter waves. The BEC was split into two strong source waves and a weak seed wave. The s-wave scattering coherently mixed pairs of atoms from the sources into the seed and its conjugate wave, creating a pair-correlated atomic beams with "squeezed" number difference. A Feshbach resonance was used to produce ultracold Na2 molecules with initial phase-space density in excess of 20. Starting from an atomic BEC, a magnetic field ramp shifted a bound state from above the threshold of the unbound continuum to below, creating a molecular population with almost zero center-of-mass motion.en_US
dc.description.abstract(cont.) A reverse field ramp dissociated the cold molecules into free atom pairs carrying kinetic energy dependent on the ramp speed. This dependence provided a measure of the coupling strength between the bound state and the continuum. Condensates were loaded into optical lattices formed with retro-reflected single frequency lasers. Quantum phase transition from the superfluid state to Mott-insulator state was observed in a three dimensional lattice. The increased interaction and flattened dispersion relation led to strongly enhanced quantum depletion in the superfluid state.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Kaiwen Xu.en_US
dc.format.extent167 p.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subjectPhysics.en_US
dc.titleEffects of interaction in Bose-Einstein condensatesen_US
dc.title.alternativeEffects of interaction in BECen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
dc.identifier.oclc82144119en_US


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