Abstract

Since the formation of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) over a year ago, ¹ experimental investigation of their geometric, thermodynamic, and mechanical properties has progressed at a rapid rate, ² For BECs with no measurable thermal-atom component, zero-temperature mean-field theory (MFT) has been found to agree well with experimental data on BEC shapes and sizes ³ and collective excitation frequencies ⁴ We report new results on two aspects of BEC excitation spectroscopy: the excitation spectra of vortex states; and the treatment of finite-temperature systems.

© 1997 Optical Society of America