Eur. Phys. J. B 68, 445-452 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00073-y

Probing the thermal atoms of a Bose gas through Raman transition

¹ Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnlaan 200 D, Heverlee, Belgium
² Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstrasse 1, 47057 Duisburg, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a Patrick.Navez@uni-duisburg-essen.de

Received: 3 July 2008
Revised: 28 November 2008
Published online: 3 March 2009

Abstract

We explore the many body physics of a Bose condensed atom gas at finite temperature through the Raman transition between two hyperfine levels. Unlike the Bragg scattering where the phonon-like nature of the collective excitations has been observed, a different branch of thermal atom excitation is found theoretically in the Raman scattering. This excitation is predicted in the generalized random phase approximation (GRPA) and has a gapped and parabolic dispersion relation. The gap energy results from the exchange interaction and is released during the Raman transition.
The scattering rate is determined versus the transition frequency ω and the transferred momentum q and shows the corresponding resonance around this gap. Nevertheless, the Raman scattering process is attenuated by the superfluid part of the gas. The macroscopic wave function of the condensate deforms its shape in order to screen locally the external potential displayed by the Raman light beams. This screening is total for a condensed atom transition in order to prevent the condensate from incoherent scattering. The experimental observation of this result would explain some of the reasons why a superfluid condensate moves coherently without any friction with its surrounding.