DOI: 10.1126/science.1060622. A Bose-Einstein Condensate of Metastable Atoms

A Bose-Einstein Condensate of Metastable Atoms

10.1126/science.1060622

Crossref journal-article

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Science (221)

Abstract

We report the realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable atoms (helium in the lowest triplet state). The excitation energy of each atom with respect to the ground state is 20 electron volts, but inelastic processes that would destroy the sample are suppressed strongly enough in a spin-polarized sample to allow condensation. Our detection scheme takes advantage of the metastability to achieve detection of individual atoms as well as of the decay products of inelastic processes. This detection opens the way toward new studies in mesoscopic quantum statistical physics, as well as in atomic quantum optics.

Bibliography

Robert, A., Sirjean, O., Browaeys, A., Poupard, J., Nowak, S., Boiron, D., Westbrook, C. I., & Aspect, A. (2001). A Bose-Einstein Condensate of Metastable Atoms. Science, 292(5516), 461â464.

Authors 8

A. Robert (first)
O. Sirjean (additional)
A. Browaeys (additional)
J. Poupard (additional)
S. Nowak (additional)
D. Boiron (additional)
C. I. Westbrook (additional)
A. Aspect (additional)

References 44 Referenced 238

Proceedings of the International School of Physics “Enrico Fermi ” Course CXL M. Inguscio S. Stringari C. E. Wieman Eds. (IOS Press Amsterdam 1999).
10.1126/science.269.5221.198
10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.3969
10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1687
10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3811
10.1209/epl/i1998-00425-9
10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3247
W. Vassen OSA TOPS on Ultracold Atoms and BEC 7 20 K. Burnett Ed. (Optical Society of America Washington DC 1996).
10.1007/s100530170228
10.1103/PhysRevA.61.023607
10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.5516
10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.2848
10.1103/PhysRevA.60.R761
For two colliding spin-polarized atoms the initial value of the total spin is 2 whereas the final value cannot be larger than 1 for the products of Penning ionization a ground-state helium atom with zero spin a He + ion with spin 1/2 and an electron with spin 1/2.
10.1103/PhysRevA.53.1447
10.1103/PhysRevA.60.4635
This suppression is particularly remarkable in He*. For instance it has not been observed in Xe* [
10.1103/PhysRevA.59.1926
10.1103/RevModPhys.71.463
and references therein.
10.1126/science.275.5300.637
See for example
10.1088/0953-4075/32/14/312
and references therein.
A. Browaeys et al. in preparation.
10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.416
If the field passes almost exactly through zero during reversal most of the atoms would become anti-aligned with the field but also in this case a small fraction would end up in the m = 0 state and this transfer would again take place in significantly less than the total reversal time.
10.1103/PhysRevA.58.R54
10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.4984
Y. Castin R. Dum Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 5315 (1996). (10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.5315)
Theoretical arguments support this assumption [P. Leo E. Tiesinga personal communication].
P. J. Leo V. Venturi I. B. Whittingham J. F. Babb in preparation.
This is a reasonable assumption because in a cloverleaf trap an increase of the bias field results in a dramatic decrease of the stiffness of the potential so that a few microseconds after the partial transfer to m = 0 atoms in m = ±1 can also be considered free at the scale of the interaction energy. Otherwise one would have to take into account a correction factor not larger than 2 [see reference 20 in (31)].
10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.337
10.1126/science.283.5408.1706
10.1038/35003132
F. Gerbier P. Bouyer A. Aspect Phys. Rev. Lett. in press (and references therein).
10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3090
10.1126/science.285.5434.1703
F. Schreck et al. in preparation.
A. G. Truscott K. E. Strecker W. I. McAlexander G. B. Partridge R. G. Hulet Science 1 March 2001 (10.1126/science.1059318).
During the preparation of this manuscript we learned that the He* group at the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris also observed BEC [
10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3459
]. We thank the NIST Laser Cooling and Trapping and Quantum Processes groups and G. Shlyapnikov for helpful discussions and A. Villing and F. Moron for invaluable assistance. Supported by the European Union under grants IST-1999-11055 and HPRN-CT-2000-00125 and by the Direction Générale de l'Armement grant 99.34.050.

Dates

Type	When
Created	17 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 12, 2007, 11:27 a.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 9, 2024, 5:05 p.m.)
Indexed	3 weeks, 3 days ago (Aug. 6, 2025, 8:56 a.m.)
Issued	24 years, 4 months ago (April 20, 2001)
Published	24 years, 4 months ago (April 20, 2001)
Published Print	24 years, 4 months ago (April 20, 2001)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Robert_2001, title={A Bose-Einstein Condensate of Metastable Atoms}, volume={292}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1060622}, DOI={10.1126/science.1060622}, number={5516}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Robert, A. and Sirjean, O. and Browaeys, A. and Poupard, J. and Nowak, S. and Boiron, D. and Westbrook, C. I. and Aspect, A.}, year={2001}, month=apr, pages={461–464} }

JSON

{
  "indexed": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2025,
        8,
        6
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2025-08-06T12:56:21Z",
    "timestamp": 1754484981517
  },
  "reference-count": 44,
  "publisher": "American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)",
  "issue": "5516",
  "content-domain": {
    "domain": [],
    "crossmark-restriction": false
  },
  "published-print": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2001,
        4,
        20
      ]
    ]
  },
  "abstract": "<jats:p>We report the realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable atoms (helium in the lowest triplet state). The excitation energy of each atom with respect to the ground state is 20 electron volts, but inelastic processes that would destroy the sample are suppressed strongly enough in a spin-polarized sample to allow condensation. Our detection scheme takes advantage of the metastability to achieve detection of individual atoms as well as of the decay products of inelastic processes. This detection opens the way toward new studies in mesoscopic quantum statistical physics, as well as in atomic quantum optics.</jats:p>",
  "DOI": "10.1126/science.1060622",
  "type": "journal-article",
  "created": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2007,
        11,
        12
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2007-11-12T16:27:55Z",
    "timestamp": 1194884875000
  },
  "page": "461-464",
  "source": "Crossref",
  "is-referenced-by-count": 238,
  "title": "A Bose-Einstein Condensate of Metastable Atoms",
  "prefix": "10.1126",
  "volume": "292",
  "author": [
    {
      "given": "A.",
      "family": "Robert",
      "sequence": "first",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "O.",
      "family": "Sirjean",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "A.",
      "family": "Browaeys",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "J.",
      "family": "Poupard",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "S.",
      "family": "Nowak",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "D.",
      "family": "Boiron",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "C. I.",
      "family": "Westbrook",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "A.",
      "family": "Aspect",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Ba\u0302timent 503, Campus Universitaire d'Orsay, Bo\u0131\u0302te Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France."
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "member": "221",
  "reference": [
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_2_2",
      "unstructured": "Proceedings of the International School of Physics \u201cEnrico Fermi \u201d Course CXL M. Inguscio S. Stringari C. E. Wieman Eds. (IOS Press Amsterdam 1999)."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_3_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1126/science.269.5221.198"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_4_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.3969"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_5_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1687"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_6_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3811"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_7_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1209/epl/i1998-00425-9"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_8_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3247"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_9_2",
      "unstructured": "W. Vassen OSA TOPS on Ultracold Atoms and BEC 7 20 K. Burnett Ed. (Optical Society of America Washington DC 1996)."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_10_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1007/s100530170228"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_11_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.61.023607"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_12_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.5516"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_13_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.2848"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_14_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.60.R761"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_15_2",
      "unstructured": "For two colliding spin-polarized atoms the initial value of the total spin is 2 whereas the final value cannot be larger than 1 for the products of Penning ionization a ground-state helium atom with zero spin a He + ion with spin 1/2 and an electron with spin 1/2."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_16_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.53.1447"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_17_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.60.4635"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_18_2",
      "unstructured": "This suppression is particularly remarkable in He*. For instance it has not been observed in Xe* ["
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_18_3",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.59.1926"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_19_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/RevModPhys.71.463"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_19_3",
      "unstructured": "and references therein."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_20_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1126/science.275.5300.637"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_21_2",
      "unstructured": "See for example"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_21_3",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1088/0953-4075/32/14/312"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_21_4",
      "unstructured": "and references therein."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_22_2",
      "unstructured": "A. Browaeys et al. in preparation."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_23_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.416"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_24_2",
      "unstructured": "If the field passes almost exactly through zero during reversal most of the atoms would become anti-aligned with the field but also in this case a small fraction would end up in the m = 0 state and this transfer would again take place in significantly less than the total reversal time."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_25_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevA.58.R54"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_26_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.4984"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_27_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "unstructured": "Y. Castin R. Dum Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 5315 (1996).",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.5315"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_28_2",
      "unstructured": "Theoretical arguments support this assumption [P. Leo E. Tiesinga personal communication]."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_29_2",
      "unstructured": "P. J. Leo V. Venturi I. B. Whittingham J. F. Babb in preparation."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_30_2",
      "unstructured": "This is a reasonable assumption because in a cloverleaf trap an increase of the bias field results in a dramatic decrease of the stiffness of the potential so that a few microseconds after the partial transfer to m = 0 atoms in m = \u00b11 can also be considered free at the scale of the interaction energy. Otherwise one would have to take into account a correction factor not larger than 2 [see reference 20 in (31)]."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_31_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.337"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_32_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1126/science.283.5408.1706"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_33_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1038/35003132"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_34_2",
      "unstructured": "F. Gerbier P. Bouyer A. Aspect Phys. Rev. Lett. in press (and references therein)."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_35_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3090"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_36_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1126/science.285.5434.1703"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_37_2",
      "unstructured": "F. Schreck et al. in preparation."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_38_2",
      "unstructured": "A. G. Truscott K. E. Strecker W. I. McAlexander G. B. Partridge R. G. Hulet Science 1 March 2001 (10.1126/science.1059318)."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_39_2",
      "unstructured": "During the preparation of this manuscript we learned that the He* group at the Ecole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure Paris also observed BEC ["
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_39_3",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3459"
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_3_1_39_4",
      "unstructured": "]. We thank the NIST Laser Cooling and Trapping and Quantum Processes groups and G. Shlyapnikov for helpful discussions and A. Villing and F. Moron for invaluable assistance. Supported by the European Union under grants IST-1999-11055 and HPRN-CT-2000-00125 and by the Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l'Armement grant 99.34.050."
    }
  ],
  "container-title": "Science",
  "original-title": [],
  "language": "en",
  "link": [
    {
      "URL": "https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1060622",
      "content-type": "unspecified",
      "content-version": "vor",
      "intended-application": "similarity-checking"
    }
  ],
  "deposited": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2024,
        1,
        9
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2024-01-09T22:05:12Z",
    "timestamp": 1704837912000
  },
  "score": 1,
  "resource": {
    "primary": {
      "URL": "https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1060622"
    }
  },
  "subtitle": [],
  "short-title": [],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2001,
        4,
        20
      ]
    ]
  },
  "references-count": 44,
  "journal-issue": {
    "issue": "5516",
    "published-print": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2001,
          4,
          20
        ]
      ]
    }
  },
  "alternative-id": [
    "10.1126/science.1060622"
  ],
  "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1060622",
  "relation": {},
  "ISSN": [
    "0036-8075",
    "1095-9203"
  ],
  "subject": [],
  "container-title-short": "Science",
  "published": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2001,
        4,
        20
      ]
    ]
  }
}