Observation of Anomalous Spin-State Segregation in a Trapped Ultracold Vapor

Published

February 1, 2002

Author(s)

H J. Lewandowski, D M. Harber, D Whitaker, Eric A. Cornell

Abstract

We observe counter-intuitive spin segregation in an inhomogeneous sample of ultra-cold, non-condensed, magnetically trapped Rubidium atomswith effectively two internal spin states. We use spatially selective microwave spectroscopy to verify a simple model'that accounts for thdifferential forces that apply to the two spin states. In any simple understanding of the cloud dynamics, the differential forces are far too smalto account for the dramatic transient spin polarizations observed. The underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Volume

88

Issue

No. 7

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

phase separation, ramsey spectroscopy

Citation

Lewandowski, H. , Harber, D. , Whitaker, D. and Cornell, E. (2002), Observation of Anomalous Spin-State Segregation in a Trapped Ultracold Vapor, Physical Review Letters (Accessed December 30, 2024)