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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 87 » Issue 16
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 160406 (2001) [4 pages]

Observation of Phase Fluctuations in Elongated Bose-Einstein Condensates

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S. Dettmer, D. Hellweg, P. Ryytty, J. J. Arlt, W. Ertmer, and K. Sengstock
Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany

D. S. Petrov1,2 and G. V. Shlyapnikov1,2,3
1FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2Russian Research Center, Kurchatov Institute, Kurchatov Square, 123182 Moscow, Russia
3Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

H. Kreutzmann, L. Santos, and M. Lewenstein
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hannover, Appelstraße 2, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Received 28 May 2001; published 1 October 2001

The occurrence of phase fluctuations due to thermal excitations in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is studied for a variety of temperatures and trap geometries. We observe the statistical nature of the appearance of phase fluctuations and characterize the dependence of their average value on temperature, number of particles, and the trapping potential. We find pronounced phase fluctuations for condensates in very elongated traps in a broad temperature range. The results are of great importance for the realization of BEC in quasi-1D geometries, for matter wave interferometry with BECs, as well as for coherence properties of guided atom laser beams.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.160406
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.160406
PACS:
03.75.Fi, 05.30.Jp, 32.80.Pj
 
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