Michigan Technological
University
Department of Physics
is pleased to announce
a colloquium
Heather Lewandowski
Research
Assistant
Spin Waves in an Ultra-cold
Bose Gas
Recent developments in cooling atomic vapors to ultra-cold
temperatures
have led to many exciting developments including the realization of
Bose-Einstein condensation. A Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) is the
macroscopic occupation of a single quantum state that allows the study of
collective quantum behavior on the human size scale. Surprisingly atoms
above the BEC transition temperature can also exhibit collective quantum
behavior in the form of spin waves. For the first time spin waves have
been spatially resolved in a gas. Using Ramsey spectroscopy and spin-state
dependent imaging we are able to determine both the longitudinal and
transverse components of the spin wave.
Thursday, April 25, 2002
4:00 p.m., Fisher Hall Room 139