Creating the first Boss-Einstein Condensate

RAHUL SINGH (230502)

November 2024

Abstract

This paper discuss “How Eric Allin Cornell, Jason R. Ensher, and Carl Edwin Wie-
man found the first Boss Einstein condensate in a dilute gas”. By using laser cooling
and magnetic trapping, they cooled rubidium (Rb-87) to a temperature below 170 nK,
allowing the quantum mechanical wave functions of individual atoms to overlap and
form a macroscopic quantum state. This achievement confirmed the theoretical predic-
tions made by S.N.Bose and Albert Einstein in 1924, where a large numbers of bosons
occupies the lowest energy state at very low temperatures.

1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction to BEC
The unusual behavior that Einstein observed is BEC. At very low temperatures, instead of all
the particles having their own energy, many of them move into the same lowest-energy state.
This creates a “condensate” where a large number of particles act as one particle.

This effect was initially disbelieved or seen as unimportant, but in the 1950s, scientists Fritz
London and L.Tisza[1, 8] suggested that it might be related to the phenomenon of superfluidity
in liquid He-4 (a liquid that flows without friction at very low temperatures).

1.2 Superfluidity and BEC in Helium

In 1950s and 60s, researchers focused more on explaining superfluidity using other models,
mentioning BEC much.
However, later experiments and advanced theories (such as neutron scattering and Monte Carlo
simulations) showed that BEC is indeed important for explaining superfluidity in liquid He-4.

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Even though a small fraction of the He-atoms actually form the condensate, the superfluid
behavior can be observed in nearly all the liquid, which behaves as if it is part of the BEC.

1.3 Other Examples of BEC

Laser: The light in a laser is made of many photons (bosons) in the same state, this is like
BEC.
Superconductors: In materials that carry electricity without resistance, electrons pair up to
form ”bosons” and create a similar effect.

2 Boss-Einstein Statistics
In 1924 S.N.Bose introduced a method to explain the behavior of light and other particles.
Later, Albert Einstein extended [5] this to include for the fixed number of particles.
Bose-Einstein statistics describe how these particles behave at different temperatures, the
particles behave in a strange way that many of them would be in lowest-energy state.
Let assume a system having N indistinguishable particles, they are distributed among the
microstates of a confining potential, such that any occupation number is allowable. The Bose-
Einstein distribution is given by
Then average number of particles in the ith state is given below

1
ni =
exp(β(ϵi − µ)) − 1
where ϵi is the energy of particle in ith state, µ is chemical potential.
The total number of particles and total energy
X
N= ni
i
X
E= ni ϵi
i

For large systems, the total number and total energy can be written as integrals
Z
N= n(ϵ)g(ϵ)dϵ

Z
g(ϵ)
N= dϵ
exp(β(ϵ − µ)) − 1

2
 Z
E= ϵ n(ϵ)g(ϵ)dϵ

The density of state g(ϵ) depend on the power of energy for different spatial dimensions is
given by 
−1/2
ϵ ; for 1-D



g(ϵ) ∝ ϵ0 ; for 2-D


ϵ1/2

; for 3-D

3 BEC is hard in Dilute gas, Why?

3.1 Low density and Low temperature

Figure 1: The common phase-diagram for all atoms. The dotted line differences between non-
BEC and BEC region. The solid line is the boundary between allowed and forbidden regions
of the temperature-density space. At low and intermediate densities, BEC exists only in the
thermodynamically forbidden region. [3]

This plot is related to any atomic system.

At low density and relatively high temperature, there exist a vapor phase. At high density, there

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are various condensed matter phases. But the intermediate densities are thermodynamically
forbidden, except at very high temperatures.
The n-T plane, which represents particle density (n) and temperature (T), the region where
BEC occurs is generally not accessible for most atoms or molecules, especially at high densities
where they typically form solid crystals.The only exception is Helium.
He, is special because it remains a liquid even at very low temperatures. This allows it to
exhibit BEC properties, but only under specific conditions.
The density which we want for BEC around 1017 - 1014 atoms per cubic centimeter. The lower
the density, the longer the gas can stay in metastable state without turning into a solid or
liquid. For a ideal gas of mass m, the density n is related to the critical temperature by

!2/3
h2 n
Tc,ideal =
2πmkB ζ(3/2)

ζ(z) is Riemann zeta function, which is ζ(3/2) = 2.61, The temperature( µK, due to lower
density), which is also hard to achieve.
Phase diagram help us to visualize this. The boundaries show where different states of matter
exist. BEC exist in “Forbidden” region where the usual rules don’t apply, making it harder to
achieve the desired state.

3.2 Supersaturation and Metastability

Sometimes, a gas can be in a state where it has more atoms than it can normally hold without
turning into a liquid or solid (this is called supersaturation). While this state isn’t stable, it
can exist temporarily, which is what we mean “Metastability”. The gas can only maintain
metastable only for a very short time (milliseconds).

3.3 Molecular Recombination

For a transition from gas to solid, atoms need to come together to form molecules. This
can happen through collisions. However, when two atoms collide, they might not form stable
molecules easily; instead three atoms typically need to collide for a stable molecules to form.
But at low densities there are fewer three atoms collisions than two atoms.

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4 Efforts to create BEC
4.1 Spin-Polarized Hydrogen
Bose-Einstein Condensate in atomic gases began after Hecht, Stwalley and Nosanov suggested
that spin-polarized hydrogen could remain gaseous even at absolute zero. This made it a strong
candidate for forming a weakly interacting BEC. Inspired by this idea, several experimental
groups started work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Three steps involved in Spin-Polarized
Hydrogen

Cooling the Hydrogen - Hydrogen was cooled using Dilution refrigerator a device capable
of reaching ultra-cold temperatures—inside a cell coated with superfluid helium.

Creating Spin-Polarized Hydrogen - Hydrogen molecules were broken apart into individual
atoms using a radiofrequency discharge. A strong magnetic field was applied to align the spins
of the atoms and prevent them from forming molecules again.

Compressing the gas - The hydrogen atoms were compressed using a piston-in-cylinder
mechanism.

4.2 Laser Cooling and Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT)

The laser could cool the atoms, it was suggested by Wineland and Dehmelt[4], Hansch and
Schawlow[6], and Letokhov’s group[7]. A MOT was used to trap and cool a large number of
rubidium atoms. This reduced the atomic temperature to the microkelvin range, making it
possible to trap the atoms for further cooling. The MOT trapped atoms using a combination
of magnetic fields and laser light, ensuring that the atoms stayed confined and slowed.

4.3 Optical Molasses

Optical molasses is a cooling technique that slows down the motion of neutral atoms by using
counter-propagating laser beams. The name ”molasses” comes from the way atoms seem to
move slowly, as if trapped in a viscous medium, much like molasses. It is one of the key methods
for achieving extremely low temperatures much lower than the Doppler limit in atomic physics
experiments.

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4.4 Evaporative Cooling
Evaporative cooling was the critical step in achieving BEC and it’s most important method of
evaporative cooling of trapped atoms. In magnetic trap, the most energetic atoms were allowed
to escape by reducing the depth of the trap. The remaining atoms equilibrated, resulting in
a decrease in the overall temperature of the system. This process was repeated in stages,
progressively lowering the temperature into the nanokelvin range (around 170 nK).

4.5 Achieving BEC

At ultralow temperatures and sufficiently high atomic density, the rubidium atoms underwent
a phase transition into the Bose-Einstein Condensate state. A macroscopic fraction of the
atoms occupied the lowest quantum state, behaving collectively as a single quantum entity.

5 Observation of BEC
The trap was turned off, and the atoms were allowed to expand. A sharp peak in the density
distribution of the expanding cloud was observed, corresponding to the condensate. This
confirmed that a Bose-Einstein Condensate had been successfully created.

Figure 2: The plot between the number of particles and the momentum or velocities of the
particles [2]

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Figure 3: We can see in the figures the condensate in B and C is clearly elliptical in shape. [2]

These two figures are representations of the experimental realization of BEC in a dilute gas,
such as rubidium-87. The original experimental data were two-dimensional black and white
shadow images, but these images had been converted to three-dimensions and given false color
density contours.

The figure-2 (from JILA, June 1995) shows the emergence of Bose-Einstein Condensation in
a 3-D spatial distribution of atoms at progressively lower temperatures.The graph depicts the
phase-space density of a trapped gas as a 3-D surface plot at three distinct temperatures 400
nK, 200 nK, and 50 nK.
The left (400 nK) image, At higher temperatures, the distribution is broader and no conden-
sation occurs; atoms are in a thermal state.
The middle (200 nK) image, As the temperature decreases, atoms begin to cluster, forming a
denser region in phase space.
The right (50 nK) image, At extremely low temperatures, a sharp central spike develops. This
spike represents the BEC, where a large numbers of the atoms occupy the same state.

The figure-3 is a 2-D projection of the atomic cloud at three different temperatures, likely
showing the velocity (momentum) distribution of the atoms.
For figure A, At high temperatures (above critical temperature for BEC), the cloud’s distri-
bution is broad and isotropic (red and green regions dominate, with little concentration in the
blue center).
For B, As the temperature drops close to the critical temperature, a central peak begins to
emerge, corresponding to the onset of condensation (visible as a bright blue-white region in

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the center).
In C, Below the critical temperature, the momentum distribution becomes sharply peaked,
representing the BEC.

References
[1] Bose-Einstein Condensation. A. griffin, dw snoke, and s. stringari. Cambridge University
Press, 2:281, 1995.

[2] E. A. Cornell and C. E. Wieman. Nobel lecture: Bose-einstein condensation in a dilute gas,
the first 70 years and some recent experiments. Rev. Mod. Phys., 74:875–893, Aug 2002.

[3] Eric A Cornell, Jason R Ensher, and Carl E Wieman. Experiments in dilute atomic bose-
einstein condensation. In Bose-Einstein Condensation in Atomic Gases, pages 15–66. IOS
Press, 1999.

[4] HG Dehmelt. Mono-ion oscillator for ultimate resolution laser spectroscopy. In Laser Spec-
troscopy V: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta,
Canada, June 29–July 3, 1981, pages 353–359. Springer, 1981.

[5] Albert Einstein. Sitzungsber. Kgl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss, 3:261, 1925.

[6] Theodor W Hänsch and Arthur L Schawlow. Cooling of gases by laser radiation. Optics
Communications, 13(1):68–69, 1975.

[7] VS Letokhov and VG Minogin. Quantum motion of atoms in the resonant field of a standing
light wave. Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz., 74:1318–1335, 1978.

[8] Laszlo Tisza. Transport phenomena in helium ii. Nature, 141(3577):913–913, 1938.