Prospects for Observation of a Tonks-Girardeau Gas in an Atom Chip Waveguide

ORAL

Abstract

Bosons confined in (quasi) one dimension can enter a new state of matter, a Tonks-Girardeau gas, in which they behave like non-interacting fermions when the atom-atom repulsive interaction becomes much larger than the kinetic energy. However they can occupy the same momentum state and therefore the gas cannot be fully described by either Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics. The phase transition requires the combination of a highly anisotropic trapping potential, low temperature and a low density of atoms. Recently there has been evidence of this state of matter in optical lattices.\footnote{Paredes et al. \textit{Nature} \textbf{429}, 277-281 (2004), Kinoshita et al \textbf{305 }1125 \textit{Science} (2004)} However, attempts to observe this state in magnetic atom chip waveguides have yet to meet success. We discuss the conditions for obtaining such a phase transition with $^{87}$Rb atoms in our atom chip waveguide, propose a novel signature for the transition to a Tonks-Girardeau gas and discuss several independent methods of observing this signature in our system.

Authors

  • Jason Alexander

    • Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD

  • Violeta Prieto

    • Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD

  • Chris Rowlett

    • Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD

  • Patricia Lee

    • Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD

  • William Golding

    • Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD