Bose-Einstein Condensation Lab

Investigators: Zekai Chen, Elisha Haber, Rachel Stromswold, Jessica Jenick and N.P. Bigelow (recent graduates)

The Bigelow group studies vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) both experimentally and theoretically. Our most recent experiments focus on spin textures and topological excitations in spinor BECs, synthetic gauge potentials, and singular atom optics.

Bose-Einstein condensates are a quantum state of matter first described by S.N. Bose and A. Einstein in the 1920's, and achieved experimentally in a dilute atomic gas in 1995 by groups at JILA, MIT, and Rice. Their unique properties allow physicists to study a wide range of phenomena. For more information on how to make BECs and why they're so interesting, see, for example, the Nobel Lectures from 1997 and 2001, and NOVA's Absolute Zero site on ultracold atoms.

The Bigelow BEC lab's work presently revolves around vortices and complex spin textures in spinor BECs. We engineer the phase and amplitude of each magnetic spin state of a Bose-Einstein condensate using a coherent two-photon stimulated Raman interaction. This allows us to create complex non-equilibrium spatially-dependent spin textures with specific spin and orbital (vortex) angular momenta. Depending on the choice of spin texture, we can study a wide range of phenomena, each connected to a different field of physics. Since we are using rubidium-87, we can create both spin-1 and spin-2 spin textures, as well as pseudo-spin systems. Our work both furthers fundamental understanding of spin-dependent symmetries and light-matter interactions, as well as extends applications of ultracold atomic physics to metrology and quantum information. 

We are also part of NASA's Consortium for Ultracold Atoms in Space at the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) on the International Space Station (ISS) in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). We are excited to help BEC physics boldly go to new frontiers. Read more here. 

Our experiment uses 87-Rb (rubidium), a double magneto-optical trap (MOT) setup, a Ioffe-Prichard magnetic trap, and forced RF evaporative cooling to create a Bose-Einstein condensate of around 5,000,000 atoms. We create vortices and spin textures in the BEC using a coherent two-photon stimulated Raman process, which requires microsecond laser pulses, tuned to the correct powers and frequencies to within microwatts and 10 MHz, respectively. We have developed a powerful numerical model to describe this Raman interaction. Our data is collected by absorption imaging, which gives us information about the density distribution of the atomic cloud in space; Stern-Gerlach imaging, which spatially separates the atomic cloud by its spin state; and matter-wave interference, which reveals the spatially-dependent phase of the condensate. Our optical vortices are created using a spiral phase plate from RPC Photonics or a spatial light modulator. 

Learn more 

• • Topological spin textures and excitations 

  • Synthetic gauge potentials in spinor quantum gases

  • Singular atom optics 

  • Arrow of Time

  • Imaging spinor BECs 

Selected works

• • 'A quantum register using collective excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate'

E. Haber, Z. Chen, and N. P. Bigelow

SciPost Phys. 15, 188 (2023). arXiv.

• • 'Imprinting knots in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate via a Raman process without knotted optical fields'

Z. Chen, E. Haber, and N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. Research 4, 043109 (2022).

• • 'Imprinting a Three-Dimensional Skyrmion in a Bose–Einstein Condensate Via a Raman Process'

Chen, Z., Hu, S.X. & Bigelow, N.P.

J. Low Temp. Phys. (2022).

• • 'Momentum dependent optical lattice induced by an artificial gauge potential'

Z. Chen, H. Yao, E. Haber, and N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. Research 4, 013124 (2022). arXiv.

• • 'Quantum measurement arrow of time and fluctuation relations for measuring spin of ultracold atoms'

M. Jayaseelan, S. K. Manikandan, A. N. Jordan, and N. P. Bigelow

Nat Commun 12, 1847 (2021).

• • 'SU(2) geometric phase induced by a periodically driven Raman process in an ultracold dilute Bose gas'

Z. Chen, J. D. Murphree, and N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. A 101, 013606 (2020).

• • 'Roadmap on structured light'

H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop, et al. 

Journal of Optics 19, 013001 (2016).

• • Creating full-Bloch Bose-Einstein condensates with Raman q-plates

J. T. Schultz, A. Hansen, J. D. Murphree, M. Jayaseelan, and N. P. Bigelow

Journal of Optics 18(6) 64009 (2016).

• • Singular atom optics with spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

A. Hansen, J. T. Schultz, and N. P. Bigelow

Optica 3(4), 355-361(2016).

• • Raman fingerprints on the Bloch sphere of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

J. T. Schultz, A. Hansen, J. D. Murphree, M. Jayaseelan, and N. P. Bigelow

Journal of Modern Optics 2016. arXiv

• • A Raman waveplate for spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

J. T. Schultz, A. Hansen, and N. P. Bigelow

Optics Letters 39, 4271-4273 (2014). arXiv

• • Measuring the Gouy Phase of Matter Waves Using Full Bloch Bose-Einstein Condensates

A. Hansen, J. T. Schultz, N. P. Bigelow

Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics, M6.64 (2013)

• • Imaging Stokes Parameters of Spinor BECs

J. T. Schultz, A. Hansen, N. P. Bigelow

Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics, M6.65 (2013)

• • Spin Textures and Topological Excitations in Spinor 87-Rb Bose-Einstein Condensates

A. Hansen, J. T. Schultz, N. P. Bigelow

Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics, M6.66 (2013)

• • Full Bloch Bose-Einstein Condensates

A. Hansen, J. T. Schultz, N. P. Bigelow 

Frontiers in Optics, LTu1 (2012)

• • Transfer and Storage of Optical Information in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

A. Hansen, L. S. Leslie, M. Bhattacharya, and N. P. Bigelow

Laser Science, LTuJ (2010)

• • 'Creation and detection of skyrmions in a Bose-Einstein condensate'

L. S. Leslie, A. Hansen, K. C. Wright, B. M. Deutsch, N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 250401 (2009). Read on arxiv.

• • 'Erratum: Creation and Detection of Skyrmions in a Bose-Einstein Condensate [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 250401 (2009)].'

L. S. Leslie, A. Hansen, K. C. Wright, B. M. Deutsch, N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 269902 (2011)

• • 'Sculpting the Vortex State of a Spinor BEC'

K. C. Wright, L. S. Leslie, A. Hansen, N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 030405 (2009). Read on arxiv.

• • Raman fingerprints on a spinor BEC

L. S. Leslie, K. C. Wright, N. P. Bigelow

Laser Physics, 19, 593 (2009)

• • 'Raman coupling of Zeeman sublevels in an alkali-metal Bose-Einstein condensate'

K. C. Wright, L. S. Leslie, N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. A 78, 053412 (2008). Read on arxiv.

• • 'Optical control of the internal and external angular momentum of a Bose-Einstein condensate'

K. C. Wright, L. S. Leslie, N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. A 77, 041601(R) (2008)

• • 'Dynamics of vortex matter in rotating two-species Bose-Einstein condensates' 

S. J. Woo, S. Choi, L. O. Baksmaty, and N. P. Bigelow 

Phys. Rev. A 75, 031604(R) (2007)

• • 'Excitation Spectroscopy of Vortex Lattices in a Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate' 

S. J. Woo, L. O. Baksmaty, S. Choi, and N. P. Bigelow 

Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 170402 (2004)

• • 'Creation of topological states in spinor condensates'

H. Pu, S. Raghavan, and N. P. Bigelow

Phys. Rev. A 63, 063603 (2001)

• • 'Spin-mixing dynamics of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate'

H. Pu, C.K. Law, S. Raghavan, J.H. Eberly, N.P. Bigelow 

Phys. Rev. A 60, 1463 (1999)

• • 'Properties of Two-Species Bose Condensates'

H. Pu and N. P. Bigelow 

Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 1130 (1998)

Recent graduates

• • Zekai Chen [thesis], postdoc at the University of Innsbruck with H. C. Nägerl in the Strongly Correlated Quantum Matter Group

  • Maitreyi Jayaseelan [thesis], Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

  • Joseph D. Murphree [thesis], postdoc at Bates College with N. Lundblad in the ultracold atomic physics group

  • Justin T. Schultz, postdoc at the University of Rochester with C.R. Stroud and N. Vamivakas in the Quantum Optoelectronics and Optical Metrology Group 

  • Azure Hansen, postdoc at NIST Boulder with E.A. Donley and J. Kitching in the Atomic Devices and Instrumentation Group 

  • Kevin C. Wright [thesis] is now a professor at Dartmouth College, after a postdoc at NIST Gaithersburg in W.D. Phillips' Laser Cooling Group. Read about some of his work done while at NIST on superflow in a torroidal BEC and SQUIDs in a BEC, and their potential application to spacecraft navigation. 

  • L. S. Leslie [thesis] 

  • Sungjung Woo (theorist), academia, Korea Institute for Advanced Study 

  • Leslie Baksmaty (theorist), academia 

  • John P. Janis, industry 

  • S. Benjamin Weiss, industry 

This work has been supported by The National Science Foundation (NSF), The Army Research Office (ARO) of the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL), The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of The United States Department of Defense (DOD), and the NASA-JPL Physical Science Research Program Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL).