TheexperimentaldiscoveryofBose-Einsteincondensationintrappedatomiccloudsopeneduptheexplorationofquantumphenomenainaqualitativelynewregime.Ouraiminthepresentworkistoprovideanintroductiontothisrapidlydevelopingfield.
ThestudyofBose-Einsteincondensationindilutegasesdrawsonmanydifferentsubfieldsofphysics.Atomicphysicsprovidesthebasicmethodsforcreatingandmanipulatingthesesystems,andthephysicaldatarequiredtocharacterizethem.Becauseinteractionsbetweenatomsplayakeyroleinthebehaviourofultracoldatomicclouds,conceptsandmethodsfromcondensedmatterphysicsareusedextensively.Investigationsofspatialandtemporalcorrelationsofparticlesprovidelinkstoquantumoptics,whererelatedstudieshavebeenmadeforphotons.Trappedatomiccloudshavesomesimilaritiestoatomicnuclei,andinsightsfromnuclearphysicshavebeenhelpfulinunderstandingtheirproperties.