Observation of dipole-dipole interaction in a degenerate quantum gas

摘要

We have investigated the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) ofstrongly magnetic chromium atoms. The long-range and anisotropic magneticdipole-dipole interaction leads to an anisotropic deformation of the expandingCr-BEC which depends on the orientation of the atomic dipole moments. Ourmeasurements are consistent with the theory of dipolar quantum gases and showthat a Cr-BEC is an excellent model system to study dipolar interactions insuch gases.