The problem of an impurity particle moving through a bosonic medium plays a fundamental role in physics. However, the canonical scenario of a mobile impurity immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) has not yet been realized. Here, we use radio frequency spectroscopy of ultracold bosonic ^{39}K atoms to experimentally demonstrate the existence of a well-defined quasiparticle state of an impurity interacting with a BEC. We measure the energy of the impurity both for attractive and repulsive interactions, and find excellent agreement with theories that incorporate three-body correlations, both in the weak-coupling limits and across unitarity. The spectral response consists of a well-defined quasiparticle peak at weak coupling, while for increasing interaction strength, the spectrum is strongly broadened and becomes dominated by the many-body continuum of excited states. Crucially, no significant effects of three-body decay are observed. Our results open up exciting prospects for studying mobile impurities in a bosonic environment and strongly interacting Bose systems in general.

Interferometers with atomic ensembles are an integral part of modern precision metrology. However, these interferometers are fundamentally restricted by the shot noise limit, which can only be overcome by creating quantum entanglement among the atoms. We used spin dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates to create large ensembles of up to 10(4) pair-correlated atoms with an interferometric sensitivity -1.61(-1.1)(+0.98) decibels beyond the shot noise limit. Our proof-of-principle results point the way toward a new generation of atom interferometers.

We experimentally investigate and analyze the rich dynamics in F=2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates of 87 Rb. An interplay between mean-field driven spin dynamics and hyperfine-changing losses in addition to interactions with the thermal component is observed. In particular we measure conversion rates in the range of 10 −12 cm 3 s −1 for spin changing collisions within the F=2 manifold and spin-dependent loss rates in the range of 10 −13 cm 3 s −1 for hyperfine-changing collisions. From our data we observe a polar behavior in the F=2 ground state of 87 Rb, while we measure the F=1 ground state to be ferromagnetic. Furthermore we see a magnetization for condensates prepared with non-zero total spin.PACS numbers: 03.75. Mn, 34.50.Pi, 03.75.Hh The investigation of atomic spin systems is central for the understanding of magnetism and a highly active area of research e.g. with respect to magnetic nanosystems, spintronics and magnetic interactions in high T c superconductors. In addition entangled spin systems in atomic quantum gases show intriguing prospects for quantum optics and quantum computation [1,2,3,4,5]. Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of ultra-cold atoms offer new regimes for studies of collective spin phenomena [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. BECs with spin degree of freedom are special in the sense that their order parameter is a vector in contrast to the "common" BEC where it is a scalar. Recent extensive studies have been made in optically trapped 23 Na in the F=1 state [10,11,12,13]. In addition evidence of spin dynamics was demonstrated in optically trapped 87 Rb in the F=1 state [14]. There is current interest in extending the systems under investigation to F=2 spinor condensates [15,16,17,18,19,20], which add significant new physics. F=2 spinor condensates offer richer dynamics, an additional magnetic phase, the so-called cyclic phase [16,18], as well as intrinsic connections to d-wave superconductors [21].In this letter we present first studies of optically trapped 87 Rb F=2 spinor condensates. We measure rates for spin changing collisions for different channels within the F=2 manifold and discuss the steady state for various initial conditions. Additionally we observe and discuss the thermalization of dynamically populated m F condensates. We also present measurements of spin-dependent hyperfine decay rates of the F=2 state in 87 Rb, as a key to further understanding the intensively studied collisional properties of 87 Rb [22,23].Our experimental setup consists of a compact double MOT apparatus which produces magnetically trapped 87 Rb Bose-Einstein condensates containing 10 6 atoms in the F=2, m F = 2 state. To confine the atoms independently of their spin state they are subsequently transferred into a far detuned optical dipole trap. It is operated at 1064 nm generating trapping frequencies of typically 2π × 891 Hz vertically, 2π × 155 Hz horizontally and 2π × 21.1 Hz along the beam direction. After transfer we further cool the ensemble for 500 ms by selective parametric excitation [24] resulting in ...

Recent experiments demonstrate the production of many thousands of neutral atoms entangled in their spin degrees of freedom. We present a criterion for estimating the amount of entanglement based on a measurement of the global spin. It outperforms previous criteria and applies to a wider class of entangled states, including Dicke states. Experimentally, we produce a Dicke-like state using spin dynamics in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our criterion proves that it contains at least genuine 28-particle entanglement. We infer a generalized squeezing parameter of -11.4(5)  dB.

We report the observation of the scissors mode of a Bose-Einstein condensed gas of 87Rb atoms in a magnetic trap, which gives direct evidence of superfluidity in this system. The scissors mode of oscillation is excited by a sudden rotation of the anisotropic trapping potential. For a gas above T(c) (normal fluid) we detect the occurrence of oscillations at two frequencies, with the lower frequency corresponding to the rigid body value of the moment of inertia. Well below T(c) the condensate oscillates at a single frequency, without damping, as expected for a superfluid.