Abstract.
We have measured the three-body decay of a Bose–Einstein condensate of rubidium (87Rb) atoms prepared in the doubly polarized ground state F=m F =2. Our data are taken for a peak atomic density in the condensate varying between 2×1014 cm-3 at initial time and 7×1013 cm-3, 16 s later. Taking into account the influence of the uncondensed atoms on the decay of the condensate, we deduce a rate constant for condensed atoms L=1.8 (±0.5) ×10-29 cm6 s-1. For these densities we did not find a significant contribution of two-body processes such as spin dipole relaxation.
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Received: 24 November 1998 / Revised version: 26 June 1999 / Published online: 8 September 1999
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Söding, J., Guéry-Odelin, D., Desbiolles, P. et al. Three-body decay of a rubidium Bose–Einstein condensate. Appl Phys B 69, 257–261 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003400050805
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003400050805