arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D. O'Dell.
We consider a trapped cigar-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate irradiated by a single far-off resonance laser polarized along the cigar axis. The resulting laser induced dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms significantly change size of the condensate, and can even cause its self-trapping.
We show that the dipole-dipole interatomic forces induced by a single off-resonant running laser beam can lead to a self-bound pencil-shaped Bose condensate, even if the laser beam is a plane-wave. For an appropriate laser intensity the ground state has a quasi-one dimensional density modulation --- a Bose "supersolid".
In our recent publication (D. O'Dell, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5687 (2000)) we proposed a scheme for electromagnetically generating a self-bound Bose-Einstein condensate with 1/r attractive interactions: the analog of a Bose star. Here we focus upon the conditions neccessary to observe the transition from external trapping to self-binding. This transition becomes manifest in a sharp reduction of the condensate radius and its dependence on the laser intensity rather that the trap potential.
We show that particular configurations of intense off-resonant laser beams can give rise to an attractive 1/r interatomic potential between atoms located well within the laser wavelength. Such a ``gravitational-like'' interaction is shown to give stable Bose condensates that are self-bound (without an additional trap) with unique scaling properties and measurably distinct signatures.