2007/10/19 by Tobias Koch, T. Koch, Thierry Lahaye +9 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nphys887
published as Nature Physics 4, 218 (2008) · 5 pages, 1 table, 3 figures
arxiv created 2007/10/19 · openalex publication_date 2008/02/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
We report on the experimental observation of the dipolar collapse of a quantum gas which sets in when we reduce the contact interaction below some critical value using a Feshbach resonance. Due to the anisotropy of the dipole-dipole interaction, the stability of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate depends not only on the strength of the contact interaction, but also on the trapping geometry. We investigate the stability diagram and find good agreement with a universal stability threshold arising from a simple theoretical model. Using a pancake-shaped trap with the dipoles oriented along the short axis of the trap, we are able to tune the scattering length to zero, stabilizing a purely dipolar quantum gas.