2003/09/30 by M. -S. Chang, M.-S. Chang, C. D. Hamley +9 · 13 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.92.140403
4 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2003/12/04 · openalex publication_date 2004/04/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We measure spin mixing of F=1 and F=2 spinor condensates of 87Rb atoms confined in an optical trap. We determine the spin mixing time to be typically less than 600 ms and observe spin population oscillations. The equilibrium spin configuration in the F=1 manifold is measured for different magnetic fields and found to show ferromagnetic behavior for low field gradients. An F=2 condensate is created by microwave excitation from the F=1 manifold, and this spin-2 condensate is observed to decay exponentially with time constant 250 ms. Despite the short lifetime in the F=2 manifold, spin mixing of the condensate is observed within 50 ms.