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Simulating spin waves in ultra-cold quantum gases

James Williams
Electron and Optical Physics Division, Physics Laboratory, NIST

Thursday, May 8, 2003 15:00-16:00,
Room 145, NIST North (820)
Gaithersburg
Thursday, May 8, 2003 13:00-14:00,
Room 4550
Boulder

Abstract: The incredibly long coherence times of atomic hyperfine states make them ideally suited for frequency standards and quantum information processing. Recent experiments on quantum gases have utilized this cherished trait of cold atoms for the study of spin waves, a property usually associated with solid-state materials rather than dilute atomic gases. Researchers in the Quantum Physics Division of of NIST observed this effect in a gas of rubidium-87 atoms cooled just above the transition for Bose-Einstein condensation. On the theory side, we teamed up with them for a detailed study of the excitation frequencies and damping rates of the collective spin modes. More recently, we have extended our work to the Bose-condensed regime, which is an uncharted direction for theory with a wealth of new physics to be discovered. In this talk I will mainly concentrate on the numerical modeling aspect of the problem, and outline some of the remaining challenges we face in extending our model to describe the coupled condensate and normal gas dynamics.
Contact: A. J. Kearsley

Note: Visitors from outside NIST must contact Robin Bickel; (301) 975-3668; at least 24 hours in advance.



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