<i>In Situ</i> Imaging of the Thermal de Broglie Wavelength in an Ultracold Bose Gas
We report the first direct in situ observation of density fluctuations on the scale of the thermal de Broglie wavelength in an ultracold gas of bosons. Bunching of ^{87}Rb atoms in a quasi-two-dimensional system is observed by single-atom imaging using a quantum gas microscope. Compared to a classical ensemble, we observe a 30% enhancement of the second-order correlation function. We show the spatial and thermal dependence of these correlations. The reported method of detecting in situ correlations can be applied to interacting many-body systems and to the study of critical phenomena near phase transitions.
Authors
- William R. Milner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0510-0775)
- J. Fricke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-4279)
- Enid Cruz-Colón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2317-9942)
- Julius de Hond (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2217-934X)
- Wolfgang Ketterle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9528-3044)
- Jinggang Xiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6193-876X)
- C.L. Chua
Institutions
- Harvard University Press (US)
- MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.183401
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 14.96
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Army Research Office