Thermometry with spin-dependent lattices
Abstract
We propose a method for measuring the temperature of strongly correlated phases of ultracold atom gases confined in spin-dependent optical lattices. In this technique, a small number of "impurity" atoms--trapped in a state that does not experience the lattice potential--are in thermal contact with atoms bound to the lattice. The impurity serves as a thermometer for the system because its temperature can be straightforwardly measured using time-of-flight expansion velocity. This technique may be useful for resolving many open questions regarding thermalization in these isolated systems. We discuss the theory behind this method and demonstrate proof-of-principle experiments, including the first realization of a 3D spin-dependent lattice in the strongly correlated regime.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0911.4143,
title = {Thermometry with spin-dependent lattices},
author = {D. McKay and B. DeMarco},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.4143},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
22 pages, 8 figures v2: Several references added; Section on heating rates updated to include dipole fluctuation terms; Section added on the limitations of the proposed method. To appear in New Journal of Physics