Senior Thesis Presentation – Dec. 9, 2011 – Ethan Emerson
44 Campus Ave.
Lewiston, ME 04240
“Evaporative cooling of trapped gas particles: a numerical analysis”
Senior Thesis presented by Ethan Emerson
This thesis develops a numerical simulation of evaporative cooling of atomic vapor as it pertains to the ultracold (nanoKelvin) phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation. I simulate evaporative cooling by two methods: one using a simplified “instant” equilibration process and a second using an elastic-collision equilibration. Both of these processes are analyzed for their validity, and subsequently used to analyze various routines for evaporative cooling. This is done by assessing the temperature and phase-space density data generated by the simulations. These programs provide an insight into optimal processes for achieving the ultracold temperatures and high phase-space densities necessary for BEC.
Refreshments will be served.