Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Institute of Physics (IoP) - Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute (WZI)
Abstract
Bose-Einstein condensation of sodium atoms has been observed in a novel "cloverleaf" trap. This trap combines tight confinement with excellent optical access, using only dc electromagnets. Evaporative cooling in this trap produced condensates of 5 x 10/6 atoms, a tenfold improvement over previous results. We measured the condensate fraction and the repulsive mean-field energy, finding agreement with theoretical predictions.
