Sodium Bose-Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice

Abstract

The phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator has been observed in a ${}^{23}$Na Bose-Einstein condensate. A dye laser detuned $\approx 5$nm red of the Na $3^2$S$\to 3^2$P${}_{1/2}$ transition was used to form the three dimensional optical lattice. The heating effects of the small detuning as well as the three-body decay processes constrained the timescale of the experiment. Certain lattice detunings were found to induce a large loss of atoms. These loss features were shown to be due to photoassociation of atoms to vibrational levels in the Na${}_2$ $(1{)}^3{\Sigma }_g^{+}$ state.

Figures somewhat compromised due to size reduction