arXiv · 1112.4754
Non-exponential one-body loss in a Bose-Einstein condensate
Abstract
We have studied the decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable helium atoms in an optical dipole trap. In the regime where two- and three-body losses can be neglected we show that the Bose-Einstein condensate and the thermal cloud show fundamentally different decay characteristics. The total number of atoms decays exponentially with time constant tau; however, the thermal cloud decays exponentially with time constant (4/3)tau and the condensate decays much faster, and non-exponentially. We show that this behaviour, which should be present for all BECs in thermal equilibrium with a considerable thermal fraction, is due to a transfer of atoms from the condensate to the thermal cloud during its decay.
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S. Knoop, J. S. Borbely, R. van Rooij, W. Vassen. 2012-01-31. Non-exponential one-body loss in a Bose-Einstein condensate. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.85.025602
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