[Historical report created from GSU BEC Homepage:]

"On the 13th of May we have successfully achieved Bose Einstein condensation of ⁸⁷Rb in a magnetic Z-trap. We trap the |F = 2, M_F = 2> magnetic substate in a Ioffe Pritchard type magnetic microtrap (the Z-trap). We start our evaporative cooling cycle with ~ 10⁸ atoms and find ~ 3 x 10⁵ atoms in the condensate. The magnetic trap frequencies are: Transversal: 2π x 600 Hz, Longitudinal: 2π x 60Hz . The picture above shows how the condensate emerges from the thermal background as we decrease the temperature.

Comment to the picture below of the chip mounting: The monolithic wire structure (Z), which supplies partially the magnetic field for the Ioffe trap is below the gold surface. The gold surface is actually a set of additional smaller micro traps, also called "AtomChip".

Members of the group:

• Alexander Kasper
• Stephan Schneider
• Christoph vom Hagen
• Louw Feenstra
• Joerg Schmiedmayer

We also acknowledge help from: 

• Markus Bartenstein
• Thorsten Schumm
• Bastian Engeser

For further information, see http://www.physi.uni-heidelberg.de/physi/atph/."