This Presidential Young Investigator Award concerns laser cooling and atom trapping. The interaction between atoms at ultra-low temperatures will be studied. With a sufficiently dense and cold gas one can hope to observe collective atomic effects, in particular a Bose-Einstein condensation of weakly interacting particles of integral spin. It is necessary to design approaches to maximize the ratio of atomic de Broglie wavelength to interatomic separation, in order to enhance the quantum effects. Lithium will be used in the initial experiments. Atoms will be spin-aligned, trapped in a magnetic field minimum, cooled in two laser cooling steps. The rates of inelastic collision processes within the trap will be measured. The gas will then be further cooled and compressed in the attempt to observe Bose-Einstein condensation.
