We study the properties of an atomic Bose--Einstein condensate produced in an optical-box potential, using high-resolution Bragg spectroscopy. For a range of box sizes, up to $70~mu$m, we directly observe Heisenberg-limited momentum uncertainty of th
e condensed atoms. We measure the condensate interaction energy with a precision of $k_B times 100$ pK and study, both experimentally and numerically, the dynamics of its free expansion upon release from the box potential. All our measurements are in good agreement with theoretical expectations for a perfectly homogeneous condensate of spatial extent equal to the size of the box, which also establishes the uniformity of our optical-box system on a sub-nK energy scale.
We study the thermodynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation in a weakly interacting quasi-homogeneous atomic gas, prepared in an optical-box trap. We characterise the critical point for condensation and observe saturation of the thermal component in a
partially condensed cloud, in agreement with Einsteins textbook picture of a purely statistical phase transition. Finally, we observe the quantum Joule-Thomson effect, namely isoenthalpic cooling of an (essentially) ideal gas. In our experiments this cooling occurs spontaneously, due to energy-independent collisions with the background gas in the vacuum chamber. We extract a Joule-Thomson coefficient $mu_{rm JT} > 10^9$ K/bar, about ten orders of magnitude larger than observed in classical gases.
We have observed Bose-Einstein condensation of an atomic gas in the (quasi-)uniform three-dimensional potential of an optical box trap. Condensation is seen in the bimodal momentum distribution and the anisotropic time-of-flight expansion of the cond
ensate. The critical temperature agrees with the theoretical prediction for a uniform Bose gas. The momentum distribution of our non-condensed quantum-degenerate gas is also clearly distinct from the conventional case of a harmonically trapped sample and close to the expected distribution in a uniform system. We confirm the coherence of our condensate in a matter-wave interference experiment. Our experiments open many new possibilities for fundamental studies of many-body physics.
We describe a simple and compact single-chamber apparatus for robust production of $^87$Rb Bose-Einstein condensates. The apparatus is built from off-the-shelf components and allows production of quasi-pure condensates of > $3times 10^5$ atoms in < 3
0 s. This is achieved using a hybrid trap created by a quadrupole magnetic field and a single red-detuned laser beam [Y.-J. Lin et al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 063631 (2009)]. In the same apparatus we also achieve condensation in an optically plugged quadrupole trap [K. B. Davis et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3969 (1995)] and show that as little as 70 mW of plug-laser power is sufficient for condensation, making it viable to pursue this approach using inexpensive diode lasers. While very compact, our apparatus features sufficient optical access for complex experiments, and we have recently used it to demonstrate condensation in a uniform optical-box potential [A. Gaunt et al., arXiv:1212.4453 (2012)].
