Velocity-distribution data for a Bose-Einstein condensate. This visual shows the cloud of atoms at 3 different times, and shows the atoms condensing together when cooled from the less dense red areas to the very dense blue and white areas.
Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) are commonly known as the fifth state of matter. This quantum mechanics phenomenon occurs when many atoms or subatomic particles get cooled to a few hundredths of a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. At this temperature, a majority of the bosons in the gas occupy the lowest quantum state, made possible because bosons ignore the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This gas of particles then begins to coalesce into a single quantum mechanical entity that displays microscopic quantum mechanical phenomena like wave-function interference atg a macroscopic level.
First predicted by Albert Einstein using the work of Satyendra Nath Bose, BECs have gone on to expand our knowledge on Quantum Physics and have been shown to hold possible applications in the future of Quantum Physics based technology.
The first BEC was made in 1995 by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman of JILA when they cooled rubidium gas to 1.7 x 10^-7 K above absolute zero. After this, scientists have been busy creating and exploring the quantum mechanical phenomena of Bose-Einstein Condensates.