Dynamics of a cold atom cloud in an anharmonic trap

Andrea Bertoldi (1) , L. Ricci (2)

1 laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique
2 UNITN - Università degli Studi di Trento = University of Trento

A combined gravitomagnetic trap was used to measure how the anharmonicity of a trapping potential affects the dynamics of a cold atomic cloud. A displacement of the effective potential minimum as a function of the ensemble temperature was observed. The effect is a direct consequence of the thermal nature of the atomic sample. The results of both a theory approach to the dynamical evolution of the atomic cloud and a numerical simulation are in very good agreement with the experimental observations. The effect can be exploited to devise a novel measurement technique for the temperature of a trapped atomic cloud, as well as to separate thermal and condensed phases in Bose-Einstein condensation experiments.

Domains: Atomic Physics [physics.atom-ph]

Andrea Bertoldi, L. Ricci. Dynamics of a cold atom cloud in an anharmonic trap. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2010, 81, pp.063415. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.81.063415⟩. ⟨hal-00628524⟩