Dressing Rubidium Atoms With Laser Light

1. RESEARCH NEWS FROM THE PFC AT JQI Y.-J. Lin, R.L. Compton, A.R. Perry, W.D. Phillips, J.V. Porto and I.B. Spielman DressingRubidiumAtomsWithLaserLight " A Bose-Einstein condensate in a uniform light-induced vector potential.” J.-Y. Lin et al, Physical Review Letters 102, 130401 (2009). “G. Juzeliūnas, "Viewpoint: Artificial magnetism for ultracold atoms," Physics 2, 25 (2009). Neutral atoms, having no net electric charge, usually don't act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by “dressing up” a Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium atoms – applying two beams of laser light, thus giving the atoms an effective directional tendency, or vector potential -- PFC researchers caused the ultracold atoms to undergo a startling transformation. They forced the cloud of neutral atoms to act like point-like charged particles that can undergo merry-go-round-like cyclotron motions just as electrons do when subjected to a suitable magnetic field. This extreme makeover technique for ultracold atoms promises to give physicists clues on how to achieve an exotic form of computation that would rely upon special fractionally charged particles dancing around on a surface. For a more detailed description, see http://pfc.umd.edu/news/dressedrubidium.html.