Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Quantum physics

Atomic gas in flatland

Nature volume 441, pages 1053–1054 (2006)Cite this article

The observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in an atomic gas was a seminal result. Two-dimensional gases are more complex, and an intriguing interference experiment has exposed a different superfluid transition.

Atomic quantum gases are unique systems for investigating elementary concepts in many-particle physics. The most prominent example is Bose–Einstein condensation — the formation of a gaseous superfluid through the collapse of an ensemble of atoms into a single quantum state — which was first observed in an ultracold gas of rubidium atoms1. Atomic gases are useful because their ingredients are familiar: the atoms interact through well-defined two-body collisions, and the trapping potentials confining the gas are known. That simplicity allows experimental insights to be linked directly to theoretical fundamentals.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Qualitative phase diagram for a two-dimensional trapped atomic Bose gas.

References

  1. Anderson, M. H., Ensher, J. R., Matthews, M. R., Wieman, C. E. & Cornell, E. A. Science 269, 198–201 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hadzibabic, Z., Krüger, P., Cheneau, M., Battelier, B. & Dalibard, J. Nature 441, 1118–1121 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Polkovnikov, A., Altman, E. & Demler, E. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 6125–6129 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hohenberg, P. C. Phys. Rev. 158, 383–386 (1967).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mermin, N. D. & Wagner, H. Phys. Rev. Lett. 17, 1133–1136 (1966).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Berezinskii, V. L. Sov. Phys. JETP 32, 493–500 (1971).

    ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Berezinskii, V. L. Sov. Phys. JETP 34, 610–616 (1972).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kosterlitz, J. M. & Thouless, D. J. J. Phys. C 5, L124–L127 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kosterlitz, J. M. & Thouless, D. J. J. Phys. C 6, 1181–1204 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Nelson, D. R. & Kosterlitz, J. M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 1201–1205 (1977).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Popov, V. N. Functional Integrals in Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Physics (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1983).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. Prokof'ev, N., Ruebenacker, O. & Svistunov, B. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 270402 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bagnato, V. & Kleppner, D. Phys. Rev. A 44, 7439–7441 (1991).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Petrov, D. S., Holzmann, M. & Shlyapnikov, G. V. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2551–2555 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Holzmann, M., Baym, G., Blaizot, J. -P. & Laloe, F. preprint available at http://www.arxiv.org/cond-mat/0508131 (2005).

  16. Simula, T. P. & Blakie, P. B. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 020404 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, ETH-Zurich, Zurich, CH-8093, Switzerland

    Tilman Esslinger & Gianni Blatter

Authors
  1. Tilman Esslinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gianni Blatter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Esslinger, T., Blatter, G. Atomic gas in flatland. Nature 441, 1053–1054 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/4411053a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4411053a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing