No Arabic abstract
In this reply we show that the criticisms raised by J. Noronha are based on a misapplication of the model we have proposed in [A. Jaouadi, M. Telmini, E. Charron, Phys. Rev. A 83, 023616 (2011)]. Here we explicitly discuss the range of validity of the approximations underlying our analytical model. We also show that the discrepancies pointed out for very small atom numbers and for very anisotropic traps are not surprising since these conditions exceed the range of validity of the model.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of an ideal gas is investigated, beyond the thermodynamic limit, for a finite number $N$ of particles trapped in a generic three-dimensional power-law potential. We derive an analytical expression for the condensation temperature $T_c$ in terms of a power series in $x_0=epsilon_0/k_BT_c$, where $epsilon_0$ denotes the zero-point energy of the trapping potential. This expression, which applies in cartesian, cylindrical and spherical power-law traps, is given analytically at infinite order. It is also given numerically for specific potential shapes as an expansion in powers of $x_0$ up to the second order. We show that, for a harmonic trap, the well known first order shift of the critical temperature $Delta T_c/T_c propto N^{-1/3}$ is inaccurate when $N leqslant 10^{5}$, the next order (proportional to $N^{-1/2}$) being significant. We also show that finite size effects on the condensation temperature cancel out in a cubic trapping potential, e.g. $V(mathbi{r}) propto r^3$. Finally, we show that in a generic power-law potential of higher order, e.g. $V(mathbi{r}) propto r^alpha$ with $alpha > 3$, the shift of the critical temperature becomes positive. This effect provides a large increase of $T_c$ for relatively small atom numbers. For instance, an increase of about +40% is expected with $10^4$ atoms in a $V(mathbi{r}) propto r^{12}$ trapping potential.
We present a method for producing three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates using only laser cooling. The phase transition to condensation is crossed with $2.5 {times} 10^{4}$ $^{87}mathrm{Rb}$ atoms at a temperature of $T_{mathrm{c}} = 0.6 mumathrm{K}$ after 1.4 s of cooling. Atoms are trapped in a crossed optical dipole trap and cooled using Raman cooling with far-off-resonant optical pumping light to reduce atom loss and heating. The achieved temperatures are well below the effective recoil temperature. We find that during the final cooling stage at atomic densities above $10^{14} mathrm{cm}^{-3}$, careful tuning of trap depth and optical-pumping rate is necessary to evade heating and loss mechanisms. The method may enable the fast production of quantum degenerate gases in a variety of systems including fermions.
The partition function and specific heat of a system consisting of a finite number of bosons confined in an external potential are calculated in canonical ensemble. Using the grand partition function as the generating function of the partition function, an iterative scheme is established for the calculation of the partition function of system with an arbitrary number of particles. The scheme is applied to finite number of bosons confined in isotropic and anisotropic parabolic traps and in rigid boxes. The specific heat as a function of temperature is studied in detail for different number of particles, different degrees of anisotropy, and different spatial dimensions. The cusp in the specific heat is taken as an indication of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC).It is found that the results corresponding to a large number of particles are approached quite rapidly as the number of bosons in the system increases. For large number of particles, results obtained within our iterative scheme are consistent with those of the semiclassical theory of BEC in an external potential based on the grand canonical treatment.
We investigate theoretically an original route to achieve Bose-Einstein condensation using dark power-law laser traps. We propose to create such traps with two crossing blue-detuned Laguerre-Gaussian optical beams. Controlling their azimuthal order $ell$ allows for the exploration of a multitude of power-law trapping situations in one, two and three dimensions, ranging from the usual harmonic trap to an almost square-well potential, in which a quasi-homogeneous Bose gas can be formed. The usual cigar-shaped and disk-shaped Bose-Einstein condensates obtained in a 1D or 2D harmonic trap take the generic form of a finger or of a hockey puck in such Laguerre-Gaussian traps. In addition, for a fixed atom number, higher transition temperatures are obtained in such configurations when compared with a harmonic trap of same volume. This effect, which results in a substantial acceleration of the condensation dynamics, requires a better but still reasonable focusing of the Laguerre-Gaussian beams.
To investigate the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation in perfect crystals a hierarchy of equations for reduced density matrices that describes a thermodynamically equilibrium quantum system is employed, the hierarchy being obtained earlier by the author. The thermodynamics of a crystal with a condensate and the one of a crystal with no condensate are constructed in parallel, which is required for studying the phase transition involving Bose-Einstein condensation. The transition is analysed also with the help of the Landau theory of phase transitions which shows that a superfluid state can result either from two consecutive phase transitions or from only one. To demonstrate how the general equations obtained can be applied for a concrete crystal the bifurcation method for solving the equations is utilized. New results concerning properties of the condensate crystals at zero temperature are obtained as well. In the concluding section, the physical concept of the condensate is discussed.