Abstract
It has long been predicted that the scattering of ultracold atoms can be altered significantly through a so-called ‘Feshbach resonance’. Two such resonances have now been observed in optically trapped Bose–Einstein condensates of sodium atoms by varying an external magnetic field. They gave rise to enhanced inelastic processes and a dispersive variation of the scattering length by a factor of over ten. These resonances open new possibilities for the study and manipulation of Bose–Einstein condensates.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. M. Vogels for discussions, A. P. Chikkatur for experimental assistance, and B. J. Verhaar and F. A. van Abeelen for providing updated theoretical predictions. We also thank D.Kleppner, D. E. Pritchard and R. A. Rubenstein for a critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, NSF, Joint Services Electronics Program (ARO), and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. J.S. acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, and D.M.S.-K. was supported by the JSEP graduate fellowship program.
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Inouye, S., Andrews, M., Stenger, J. et al. Observation of Feshbach resonances in a Bose–Einstein condensate. Nature 392, 151–154 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/32354
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/32354
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