Our research involves probing the quantum nature of Bose Einstein condensates (BEC). To do this we use the unique property of He*, the ability to count signal atoms with high temporal and spatial resolution.

On Dec 22, 2005 we made our first metastable BEC. Above is shown a 3-dimensional rendering of our time of flight data. The three images show atom clouds after they have expanded for 0.2 seconds. For each successive image the atom cloud is cooled further, towards absolute zero. As the temperature of the cloud gets colder, a sharp peak emerges from a broad background, the tell-tale sign of a BEC.