| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/A90367/01 |
| Title: |
HYDRODYNAMICS OF ATOMIC VAPOURS PREPARED BY LASER COOLING |
| Principal Investigator: |
Adams, Professor CS |
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| Department: |
Physics |
| Organisation: |
Durham, University of |
| Scheme: |
Advanced Fellowship (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 October 1999 |
Ends: |
30 September 2004 |
Value (£): |
229,361
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| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The aim of this proposal is to gain new insight into the fundamental nature of fluidity by investigating possibly the simplest and most easily quantifiable fluids, the dilute Bose-Einstein condensate. Although familiar in our everyday experience, fluids are extremely complex, and important issues such as the origin of drag and the on-set of turbulence remain only partially understood. The important issues are often linked to vortices.A goal of this work is to study the process of vortex formation in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates by 'stirring' with a laser beam. However, before this experiment is performed it would be useful to grow larger condensates than currently available, which requires the development of new laser cooling and trapping techniques. The aim is to form much larger samples by finding a way to continuously feed cold atoms into the trap. A large condensate can be easily probed and stirred using focussed laser beams. The detection of vortices will not only improve our understanding of fluidity but could have important implications in other spheres, for example in superconductivity and the possibility of cosmic string formation during the early stages of the universe.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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