text:
# Spectroscopic evidence for a charge-density-wave condensate in a charge-ordered manganite: Observation of collective excitation mode in Pr_"0.7"Ca_"0.3"MnO_"3" by using THz time-domain spectroscopy

## I Introduction

The tendency toward for the formation of the charge ordering is a common characteristic of the transition metal oxides with a perovskite structure including high-temperature superconducting cuprates and colossal magnetoresistive manganites. MImada ; YTokura  In particular, various kind of the manganites with the doping level $`x`$ of 1/2 show the charge-exchange (CE)-type charge ordering, YTokura ; ZJirak  in which Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions by the ratio of 1:1 regularly distribute in the underlying lattice below the charge and orbital ordering temperature $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ \[Fig. 1(a)\]. Such a real-space charge ordering is characterized by a single-particle excitation across the charge gap $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Using the light of frequency $`\omega `$, the single-particle excitation spectrum of the charge-ordered (CO) manganites have been extensively investigated in recent years; YOkimoto1 ; YOkimoto2 ; YOkimoto3 ; PCalvani ; HLLiu ; TTonogai  for example, Okimoto et al. identified $`2\mathrm{\Delta }300`$ meV of Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3 by using polarized reflectivity measurements and clarified that the electronic structure is dramatically reconstructed in the order of eV by varying temperature $`T`$ and magnetic field $`H`$ (Refs. YOkimoto2,  and YOkimoto3, ). Using transmission measurements, Calvani et al. found that $`2\mathrm{\Delta }\left(T\right)`$ of La1-xCaxMnO3 with $`x=0.5`$ and 0.67 can be well described by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) relation. PCalvani

Another important viewpoint is the collective nature of $`e_\mathrm{g}`$ carriers including the orbital degree of freedom, which is thought to have a great impact on extraordinary properties of the manganites, i.e., colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). YTokura2  The conspicuous examples are recent findings of the “orbiton”, a new elementary excitation of the orbital-ordered state observed in LaMnO3 ESaitoh  and of the “charge stripes”, a new periodic form composed of a pairing of diagonal Mn3+ with Mn4+ observed in La1-xCaxMnO3 $`\left(x1/2\right)`$. SMori  Therefore, the understandings of the role of $`e_\mathrm{g}`$ carriers with variation of $`x`$—thus the collective phenomena of $`e_\mathrm{g}`$ carriers in connection with the specific kind of the charge ordering depending on $`x`$—have attracted interests and may be of central topics in CO manganites. More recently, Asaka et al. proposed the model of the CE-type structure in Pr0.625Ca0.375MnO3 by using the transmission electron spectroscopy as schematically shown in Fig. 1(b). TAsaka  It may be viewed as a quasi-one dimensional electronic structure with the reduced dimensionality as compared to the well-known CE-type structure \[Fig. 1(a)\]: $`d_{3x^2r^2}`$ or $`d_{3y^2r^2}`$ orbital ordering of Mn3+ occurs along $`c`$-axis. In another angle, $`d_{3z^2r^2}`$ orbital of Mn3+ was cliped by three Mn4+ ions. Such a regular pattern of the distinct charges modifies the uniformity of the charge density, leading to the development of the charge-density-wave (CDW) condensate. GGruner3  This situation is depicted in Fig. 1(c); the charge density (shared area) periodically varies with the position and also time (dashed line), so the new modulation occurs in the underlying lattice (the period of this modulation is larger than the lattice constant). Such a CDW formation is recently deduced from the one-dimensional Fermi-surface (FS) topology in a layered manganite La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 by Chuang et al.; YDChuang  they determined the detailed map of the FS by using the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and concluded that FS is subject to CDW instabilities even in the ferromagnetic metallic state. In the sight of these considerations, the charge ordering is also characterized by a collective excitation well below $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$. However, no clear evidence for the collective excitation of the CO state was reported so far (see, Note added).

The collective excitation is associated with the mode depending on both the position and the time; the modes arising from the former and the later are referred to as amplitudons and phasons, respectively. GGruner1  According to Lee et al., PALee  the dispersion relation of the phasons is given by $`\omega ^2\left|q\right|^2`$, where $`q`$ is the wavenumber. By the illumination of light, the collective excitation can make a coupled oscillation, which yields the change of the dielectric constant at $`q=0`$, being in proportional to $`\left(\omega _{\mathrm{LO}}^2\omega ^2\right)/\left(\omega _{\mathrm{TO}}^2\omega ^2\right)`$, where $`\omega _{\mathrm{LO}}`$ and $`\omega _{\mathrm{TO}}`$ are the longitudinal and transverse optical frequencies, respectively. Therefore, this kind of the coupled mode comes to the surface as a collective excitation mode in the complex optical spectrum. It is also important that the impurity and/or the lattice imperfection has striking influence on the CDW dynamics, because the CDW condensate is pinned by the impurity and therefore the peak position of the collective excitation mode shifts to a finite frequency. GGruner1

In this article we provide the spectroscopic evidence for the CDW condensate in the typical CO manganite Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3. The basis of this conclusion is derived from the first observation of the collective excitation mode in the optical conductivity spectrum. As well-known CDW system like a quasi-one dimensional K0.3MoO3, the collective excitation mode frequently appears in the millimeter $`\omega `$ range $``$ meV, GGruner1  where it is difficult to get the probing light by the conventional optical spectroscopy. We overcome this limitation by using THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS), MCNuss  which is a powerful tool to unveil the low-energy charge dynamics of the CMR manganites. NKida1 ; NKida3  In addition to this advantage, THz-TDS is especially suited to capture the signal of the fluctuation phenomenon as the high $`\omega `$ THz pulse is sensitive and matches on the typical time scale of the charge fluctuation in correlated electron system, which is instantiated by THz-TDS experiments on underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. JCorson

Material—Material we used in this work is the typical CO manganite; Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 with a orthorhombically disordered three dimensional structure. This material exhibits the insulating behavior and undergoes the charge ZJirak ; HYoshizawa  and orbital ZJirak ; MvZimmermann  ordering below $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}220`$ K and the antiferromagnetic spin ordering below $`T_\text{N}140`$ K. Due to the deviation of $`x`$ from 1/2, at which the charge ordering is most stable, the extra electrons $`\left(x<1/2\right)`$ occupy at the Mn4+ site with maintaining the charge ordering \[Fig. 1(b)\]. The remarkable characteristics compared to other CO manganites are such an admissibility of the charge ordering and the CMR effect, in which the dramatic variance of the resistance by more than 10 orders of magnitude was attained YTomioka ; YTomioka1  Therefore, various kind of the experimental results are accumulated to date. YTokura  It should be mentioned that there are variant interpretaions about the low-temperature phase below 110 K: One is due to the coexistence of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases proposed by Jirák et al.; ZJirak  another is the canted antiferromagnetic phase (or the spin-glass phase) reported by Yoshizawa et al. HYoshizawa  However, the intimate identification is beyond the scope of this study, but we can say that magnetic properties of our samples are consistent with the results by Deac et al. IGDeac

## II Methods

### II.1 Sample preparation and characterization

Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin films on MgO(100) substrates were prepared by a pulsed laser deposition technique using a KrF excimer laser (248 nm in the center wavelength). The thin films were deposited at 800 C under an oxygen pressure $`P\left(\mathrm{O}_2\right)`$ of 100 Pa and subsequently cooled down under $`P\left(\mathrm{O}_2\right)`$ of 300 Pa. An x-ray diffraction pattern at room temperature indicates that the obtained films were of single phase and were mainly $`a\left(b\right)`$-axis oriented in the cubric setting \[we barely detected the (110) intensity peak in the logarithmic intensity scale\]. We used two samples (A and B) in the following THz-TDS experiments, both of which are obtained by the same growth condition described above. The film thickness $`d`$ of the samples A and B are $`60`$ nm and $`100`$ nm, respectively. We measured the $`d`$ dependence of the $`a\left(b\right)`$-axis lattice constant and observed its sudden increase above $`100`$ nm with the intense (110) intensity peak, implying the partial relaxation of the strained epitaxial growth below $`100`$ nm.

The obtained films show the typical insulating behavior between 20–300 K according to the DC resistivity $`1/\sigma _1\left(\omega =0\right)`$ measurements with a four-probe method.

To characterize magnetic properties of our samples, we measured $`T`$ and $`H`$ dependences of the magnetization $`M`$ in a unit of Bohr magnetron $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at the Mn-site by a SQUID magnetometer. All data are collected by subtracting the contribution of $`M`$ of the MgO substrates, which are measured independently. Figure 2 shows $`T`$ dependence of $`M`$ of the sample A in the field cooling (FC; open circles) $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ and the zero-field cooling (ZFC; open squares) $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}`$ under 500 Oe or 10 kOe. With decreasing $`T`$ under 500 Oe, both $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}\left(T\right)`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}\left(T\right)`$ curves enhance below 120 K and $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}\left(T\right)`$ curve starts to deviate $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}\left(T\right)`$ curve below the irreversible temperature $`T_{\mathrm{irr}}80`$ K. For further decrease with $`T`$, $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}\left(T\right)`$ curve reaches the maximum at temperature $`T_{\mathrm{max}}75`$ K. The difference between $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}`$ at 15 K is estimated to be $`0.1`$ $`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at the Mn-site. On the other hand, $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}\left(T\right)`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}\left(T\right)`$ curves under 10 kOe are hardwired; we observed the continual increase of $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}`$ without the broad maximum and that the difference between $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}`$ at 15 K is fairly small. The obtained magnetic properties of the samples A and B are listed in Table 1 together with $`\mathrm{\Delta }M=\left(M_{\mathrm{FC}}M_{\mathrm{ZFC}}\right)/M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ at 15 K and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T=T_{\mathrm{irr}}T_{\mathrm{max}}`$. These quantities and behaviors of $`M\left(T\right)`$ curves both under 500 Oe and 10 kOe are consistent with previous detailed magnetic studies in single crystal and ceramic samples of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 by Deac et al. (Ref. IGDeac, ). It is noticed that we employ $`\mathrm{\Delta }M`$ at 15 K and regard $`T_{\mathrm{max}}`$ as 15 K, while Deac et al. used these values at 4 K.

We show in Figs. 3 the $`MH`$ curve within $`\pm 10`$ kOe at 30 K after $`T`$ is decreased under the zero $`H`$. The $`H`$ cycling is changed (a) between -50 kOe and 50 kOe and (b) between -10 kOe and 10 kOe. There is a precursor signal of the metamagnetic transition due to the melting of the charge ordering in Fig. 3(a) in contrast to $`MH`$ curve shown in Fig. 3(b): YTomioka  $`M`$ in the first increasing $`H`$ (closed circles) does not merge into $`M`$ in the subsequent third increasing and second decreasing process (open circles); $`M`$ steeply increases around 45 kOe; Once $`H`$ exceeds the critical field around 45 kOe \[inset of Fig. 3(a)\], the magnitude of $`M`$ in the subsequent increasing and decreasing process is larger than that shown in Fig. 3(b) (see, $`M`$ at -10 kOe).

We do not directly identify $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ of our samples by e.g., the transmission electron microscopy. However, as will be shown later, $`T`$ dependence of the optical conductivity changes around 220 K (see, Fig. 6), which is a nearly same value of $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ in this material (Ref. ZJirak, ). Moreover, we recently found that $`T`$ dependence of THz radiation from Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin film, which is made by the same growth procedure in this work, dramatically changes at 140 K and 220 K. NKida2  So we consider that our films have $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ around 220 K.

### II.2 THz time-domain spectroscopy

We performed THz-TDS experiments utilizing a photoconducting sampling technique in a transmission configuration. THz-TDS can directly provide complex optical spectra without the Kramers-Kronig transformation, which is indispensable relation to estimate complex optical spectra using the conventional optical spectroscopy (reflection or transmission measurements as described in Sec. I). The principle of the THz-TDS can be found in Refs. MCNuss, ; NKida1, ; NKida3, . We briefly describe the experimental setup of our THz-TDS experiments. The light source is a THz pulse from a dipole-type low-temperature grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) photoconducting switch under a voltage bias of 15 V excited by femtosecond optical pulses from the mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser (800 nm in the center wavelength, 150 fs in the pulse width). The THz pulse through the sample is detected by the bow-tie-type LT-GaAs photoconducting switch. In the measured $`\omega `$ range, optical constants of the MgO substrate is negligible variation with respect to both $`\omega `$ and $`T`$. Therefore, we adopt the data of the MgO substrate at room temperature. By performing the Fourier transformation for the transmitted THz pulse, amplitude and phase shift spectra of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin films are obtained. We numerically estimated the complex refractive index spectrum $`\stackrel{~}{n}\left(\omega \right)=n\left(\omega \right)i\kappa \left(\omega \right)`$ of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (detailed procedure, see in Ref. NKida1, ). Then, we transformed to the complex dielectric and complex optical conductivity spectra by using following relations; $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}\left(\omega \right)=ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)iϵ_2\left(\omega \right)=n\left(\omega \right)^2\kappa \left(\omega \right)^2i2n\left(\omega \right)\kappa \left(\omega \right)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }\left(\omega \right)=\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)i\sigma _2\left(\omega \right)=ϵ_0\omega \left(ϵ_2\left(\omega \right)i\left(ϵ_{\mathrm{}}ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)\right)\right)`$, respectively, where $`ϵ_{\mathrm{}}`$ is the dielectric constant of the bound electrons and $`ϵ_0`$ is the permittivity of vacuum.

## III Results

Figures 4(A) and 4(B), respectively, show $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ with a logarithmic energy scale of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 for two samples A and B at the low-temperature. We also plot in Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ corresponding to $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ of the samples A and B, respectively. The experimental configuration differs from each other, so the light source of THz pulse is different in respective measurements. The open circles denote experimental data. The scattering of the data represented by error bars are large below 0.5 meV and above 4 meV due to a poor sensitivity of the THz light sources and an ambiguous convergence of the transformation procedure. There are important and striking features, which can be clearly seen in the measured $`\omega `$ range (0.5–5 meV): (i) a finite peak structure appears in $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ centered around 2–3 meV below the lowest optical phonon energy $`20`$ meV (the external optical phonon mode originated from the perovskite structureYOkimoto3 ). Accordingly, the distinguished sharp peaks with a dispersive structure are observed in $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$; the peak frequency in $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ nearly corresponds to $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)=0`$. (ii) the observed structure has a small spectral weight of the order of 1% as compared to the single-particle excitation; YOkimoto2 ; YOkimoto3 ; TTonogai  $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at the peak frequency ($`2000`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$cm-1) bears comparison with that at $`1`$ eV ($`1000`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$cm-1). (iii) its peak position strongly depends on samples, while $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at the peak frequency does not. (iv) the swelling of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ around 1 meV is observed below the finite peak structure. Conformably, $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ continues to exhibit $`\omega `$ dependence; in particular $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ of the sample A cuts another zero around 0.8 meV.

To reveal the spectral shape of the finite peak structure with $`T`$, we performed the same experiments in the sample A on warming through $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}220`$ K; $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at selected $`T`$ \[(a) 8.6 K, (b) 145 K, (c) 217 K, and (d) 280 K\] are shown in Figs. 5. Fig. 5(a) is same as Fig. 4(A). With increasing $`T`$ up to $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ around the peak frequency decreases and the spectral shape broadens out, while the swelling structure increases \[Figs. 5(b) and (c)\]. Even above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$, the peak structure is still visible \[Fig. 5(d)\]. One can notice that the spectral shape around the peak structure at 217 K \[Fig. 5(c)\] does not considerably change above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$ as can be seen in that at 280 K \[Fig. 5(d)\]. In addition, the peak frequency doe not depends on $`T`$.

To clarify the change of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ more clearly with $`T`$, we plot in Fig. 6 the $`T`$ dependence of the $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at the peak frequency (closed circles) and at 0.7 meV (open squares) of the sample A, which are normalized by the value of the respective $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at 280 K. It can be clearly seen that $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ both at the peak frequency and at 0.7 meV above $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ do not show $`T`$ dependence within the experimental accuracy \[the data of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ around the peak structure is subject to the inaccuracy in the transformation procedure with increasing $`T`$. Thus, the scattering of the data is large\]. On the contrary, with decreasing $`T`$ below $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$, $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at the peak frequency increases and reaches the maximum value at low-temperature, which is 1.6 times larger than the value at $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$, while $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at 0.7 meV decreases slightly. These results clearly indicate that the observed structure is related to the opening of $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

## IV Assignment and discussion

Keeping features of the finite peak structure described in Sec. III in mind, let us focus our attention on the assignment of the observed structure.

At finite $`T`$, thermal fluctuations in the order of $`k_\text{B}T`$ ($`1`$ meV at 10 K) as well as the presence of the impurity band play an important role in the measured $`\omega `$ range, where $`k_\text{B}`$ is the Boltzman’s constant; the some hopping conduction of the thermally excited carriers within $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ screens in the underlying lattice and subsequently gives rise to a finite peak structure (Ref. DRomero, ). In this viewpoint, $`T`$ dependence of the scattering rate of the charge carriers in the hopping event follows the exponential $`T`$ dependence. SLiu  To see quantitatively how the observed structure changes with $`T`$, we applied a single Lorentz oscillator expressed as

$$\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)=\frac{\sigma _0\omega ^2/\tau ^2}{\left(\omega _0^2\omega ^2\right)^2+\omega ^2/\tau ^2},$$
(1)
$$ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)=ϵ_{\mathrm{}}+\frac{\omega _\mathrm{p}^2\left(\omega _0^2\omega ^2\right)}{\left(\omega _0^2\omega ^2\right)^2+\omega ^2/\tau ^2},$$
(2)
where $`\omega _0`$ is the peak frequency, $`\tau `$ is the relaxation time, $`\sigma _0`$ is $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at $`\omega _0`$, and $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$ is the plasma frequency. The solid lines in Figs. 4 denote least-squares fits to the respective data. In this procedure, we determined the value of the peak frequency $`\omega _0`$, where $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ crosses zero and then fixed the value of the optical conductivity $`\sigma _0`$ at $`\omega _0`$. Thus only $`\tau `$ is a fitting parameter in Figs. 4(A) and (B). We also estimate $`ϵ_{\mathrm{}}`$ using only above determined values. The obtained quantities of the samples A and B are summarized in Table 2. As clearly seen in Figs. 4, we can reproduce $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ and $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ by using respective Eqs. (1) and (2) except for the energy region, where the swelling appears in $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$. Figure 7 displays $`T`$-square plot of the scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1/\tau `$ of the sample A below 280 K. We found that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(T\right)`$ obey the phenomenogical relation given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(T\right)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0+A_2T^2,$$
(3)
where $`A_2`$ is the coefficient and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ at 0 K. The solid line in Fig. 7 is a least-squares fit to the data below $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$; Eq. (3) holds in good with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=2.3`$ meV and $`A_2=0.5`$ meV/K2, providing the clear indication that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(T\right)`$ cannot be account for by thermal as well as variable range hopping conduction pictures of the carriers in the localized state. Localization

One may consider the phase separation (PS) picture MMayr —the dynamical coexistence of the ferromagnetic metallic and CO insulating states MUehara —, which is thought to be a key feature of the CMR phenomena and indeed experimentally discussed in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3. IGDeac ; AAnane ; PGRadaelli  Such PS as well as the presence of the disorder commonly seen in thin films using MgO substrates, produces a finite peak structure as a result of the shifting of the Drude peak centered at $`\omega =0`$. Our samples show the ferromagnetic order at low-temperature; there is a significant hysteresis loop in $`MH`$ curve at 30 K with a coercive force of $`500`$ Oe (Figs. 3), which may imply the presence of the ferromagnetic domain in the CO insulating phase. Therefore, we compare our experimental results to the typical characteristics of the PS in CO manganites. AAnane ; TKimura ; RMathieu  Best example in the PS picture is the slow relaxation effect observed in Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 by Anane et al. (Ref. AAnane, ) and Cr-doped manganites by Kimura et al., TKimura  in which the ferromagnetic fraction can be artificially controlled by $`H`$-annealing process and also the Cr (impurity)-doping at the Mn-site. In these materials, the physical quantities \[i.e., $`\sigma _1\left(\omega =0\right)`$ and $`M`$\] strongly depend on the history of the external perturbations. For example, Anane et al. measured the time dependence of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega =0\right)`$ in the ferromagnetic phase of Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 after $`H`$ of 100 kOe is applied at low-temperature. AAnane  They found that the CO insulating phase is restored in the time range of $`10^2`$$`10^5`$ second (the slow relaxation effect). Very recently, Mathieu et al. reported that $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ under 20 Oe in Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 exhibits the different relaxation effect in the typical characteristic time of $`10^2`$ second by changing only the cooling rate. RMathieu  Moreover, the difference of $`M_{\mathrm{FC}}`$ in the history of the cooling rate increases with time. Based on these studies, we have done following THz-TDS experiments: We rapidly cooled the another sample used in Sec. III (the growth condition is same as samples A and B) from room temperature to 4 K with a cooling rate of $`8`$ K per minute and measured the time dependence of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ while keeping $`T=4`$ K constant. We observed no slow relaxation effect in the measured $`\omega `$ range; the spectral shape of the peak structure and the peak frequency $`2`$ meV exhibit no variation per $`10^4`$ second, which is a contrarious evidence for the PS picture.

As described in Sec. I, we infer the possibility of the CDW condensate due to the quasi-one dimensional charge and orbital ordering in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3. We discuss here that the observed peak structure arises from the CDW condensate as compared to the low-energy optical properties of the well-known CDW system. The typical characteristics of the collective excitation mode observed in low-dimensional CDW materials are as follows: GGruner1 ; TWKim1 ; GMihaly ; TWKim2 ; LDegiorgi1 ; LDegiorgi2  (i) As mentioned earlier, the pinning frequency is in general of the order of meV. GGruner1 ; TWKim1 ; GMihaly ; TWKim2 ; LDegiorgi1 ; LDegiorgi2  (ii) The spectral weight of the collective excitation mode is typically 2 orders of magnitude smaller than that of the single-particle excitation. GGruner1 ; TWKim1 ; GMihaly ; TWKim2 ; LDegiorgi1 ; LDegiorgi2  This is due to the relatively large $`2\mathrm{\Delta }100`$ meV, which is in strong contrast to the small spin gap $`10`$ meV observed in the spin-density-wave (SDW) system. In the SDW system, the spectral weight of the collective excitation mode should be comparable to that of the single-particle excitation due to the electron-electron interaction.GGruner2  (iii) Kim et al. found that the pinning frequency in (Ta1-zNbzSe4)2I alloys linearly shifts to higher $`\omega `$ and $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ at the pinning frequency does not change with increasing the impurity concentration $`z`$. TWKim2  Same tendencies are also observed in K0.3Mo1-zWzO3 alloys. LDegiorgi2  (iv) Mihály et al. identified the swelling structure in the low-energy side of the collective excitation mode in K0.3MoO3 as the internal deformation on the basis of the generalized Debye analysis. GMihaly  Our present findings (i)-(iv) described in Sec. III and various works (i)-(iv) described above in the CDW system, both of which have apparent similar properties and have no contrariety. Moreover, $`T^2`$ dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (Fig. 7) has been also found in the CDW system GGruner1 ; TWKim1  and Eqs. (1) and (2) are same expressions derived from the equation of motion for the CDW dynamics. GGruner1  Therefore, we arrive at the conclusion that the observed structure in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 is assigned to the collective excitation mode arising from the CDW condensate. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first spectroscopic evidence for the CDW condensate in CO manganites.

The description of the CDW condensate in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 is consistent and may explain following previous studies. The CDW easily couples with the lattice and affects phonon modes. Therefore, new infrared modes are expected to be active below $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$. Okimoto et al. found that in addition to phonon modes due to the orthorhombic distortion, many new modes emerge as sharp excitations in Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3 at 10 K. YOkimoto3  Asamitsu et al. have measured current-voltage characteristics of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and found the beginning of the nonlinear conduction above the threshold electric field, AAsamitsu  which reminds us of the sudden motion of the CDW (CDW depinning) as observed in CDW materials. GGruner1

We should note the previous work about the impurity effect on $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ in a copper oxide superconductor. Basov et al. reported that the Zn (impurity)-doping of the Cu-site in YBa2Cu4O8 distracts the superconductivity and induced the finite peak structure around 10 meV (Ref. DNBasov, ). They concluded that this structure arises from the localization of the charge carriers produced by the randam distribution of the Zn on the Cu-site (disorder) on the basis that the integrated area of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ up to 1 eV conserves as far as 3.5% Zn-doping. However, same authors also pointed out that if the Drude-like response in YBa2Cu4O8 appears as a result of the collective excitation which is prospective by theory, the peak structure in YBa2(Cu1-zZnz)4O8 can be regard as the collective excitation mode as in both cases of the CDW and SDW. DNBasov

It is well known that the collective excitation mode originates in two different states; one is a “pinned” state due to the pinning of the CDW condensate by the impurity and/or the lattice imperfection and another is the “bound” state, which is created by the coupling of the pinned state with the optical phonon or the impurity near the pinned state. LDegiorgi1 ; LDegiorgi2  Despite the fact that the swelling of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ below the low-energy side of the finite structure, which is usually ascribed to a internal deformation of the pinned collective excitation mode, GMihaly  can be seen in Figs. 4, we cannot clearly claim whether the observed mode is assigned to the pinned or the bound collective excitation mode of the CDW. One pregnant result is that $`ϵ_1\left(\omega \right)`$ below the peak structure crosses zero around 8 meV and reaches the minus value with decreasing $`\omega `$ \[Fig. 4(a)\]. This implies the presence of another $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$ and of the another peak structure below the measured $`\omega `$ range. Further experiments on $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }\left(\omega \right)`$ in the GHz $`\omega `$ range are necessary to perform the detailed discussion and are now in progress using the cavity perturbation technique.

As shown in Fig. 5(d), the collective excitation mode can be seen even above $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$, while its spectral shape is blurred due to the large proportion of the background contribution above $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ continues to follow $`T^2`$ dependence above $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$ as shown in Fig. 7 \[the fitting procedure by Eq. (3) was performed using the data below $`T_{\mathrm{CO}/\mathrm{OO}}`$\]. This excludes the thermal fluctuation as the origin of this broadening, leading us to conclude that the dynamical short-range CO (charge fluctuation) is still subsistent above $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ instead of the long-range CO below $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$. Such a short-range CO has been already reported by other experiments: Radaeli et al. and Shimomura et al. have revealed that the short-range CO of Pr1-xCaxMnO3 with $`x=0.3`$, PGRadaelli  0.35, 0.4, and 0.5, SShimomura  exists even above $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ by neutron and x-ray scattering experiments, respectively. As in the case of the CDW system such as K0.3Mo1-zWzO3 and (TaSe4)2I, the collective excitation modes are also observed above the CDW transition temperature $`T_{\text{CDW}}`$ due to the presence of the fluctuating CDW segments, which are systematically investigated by Schwartz et al. ASchwartz  For example, the collective excitation mode of K0.3MoO3 is visible even at 300 K ($`T_{\text{CDW}}183`$ K).

Finally, we comment on THz radiation from Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin films excited by the femtosecond optical pulses, which we found recently; NKida2  the radiated spectrum decreases rapidly in intensity with increasing $`\omega `$ and seems to show the depletion around 2.4 meV. As compared to Figs. 4, such a THz response is due to the absorption of the collective excitation mode during the propagation of the generated THz pulse inside the material.

## V Summary and outlook

Summarizing, by using THz-TDS, for the first time, we reported the presence of the finite peak structure around 2–3 meV in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and assigned it to the collective excitation mode arising from the CDW condensate. The measurements on the polarization dependence of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ with the grazing incidence of light using the single-domain single crystal will provide the direct evidence and more detailed information for the collective excitation mode. In especially, the measurements of $`\sigma _1\left(\omega \right)`$ in the GHz $`\omega `$ range are needed to perform further quantitative discussions. Further interests are to study the melting process under external perturbations and $`x`$ dependence of the collective excitation mode; for example, $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ decreases linearly with $`x`$ from 0.3 to 0.5, TTonogai  whereas $`T_{\text{CO/OO}}`$ gradually increases and behaves the less-$`x`$ dependent. YTomioka1  This indicates the breaking of the BCS relation given by $`2\mathrm{\Delta }\left(x\right)T_{\text{CO/OO}}\left(x\right)`$. So, it is indispensable to clarify how the collective excitation mode manifesting well below $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ changes with $`x`$ using THz-TDS.

Note added.—After the submission of this article, we became an aware of some reports related in the present study. Kitano et al. \[Europhys. Lett. 56, 434 (2001)\] and Gorshunov et al. \[cond-mat/0201413 (unpublished)\] found peak structures around 0.1–1 meV in spin-ladder materials Sr14-xCaxCu24O41 by means of optical spectroscopy and assigned them to the collective excitation modes due to the CDW formation. About manganites, Campbell et al. \[Phys. Rev. B 65, 014427 (2001)\] interpreted that CDW fluctuations inhere in a layered ferromagnetic manganite La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 based on their diffuse x-ray scattering data. Recently, Nagai et al. \[Phys. Rev. B 65, 060405(R) (2002)\] reported that the electron microscopic data of a layered CO manganite Nd1-xSr1+xMnO4 are consistent with assumptive images of the CDW formation. Very recently, the finite peak structure around 4 meV was also found in 1/8 hole-doped La1.275Nd0.6Sr0.125CuO4 by Dumm et al. \[Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 147003 (2002)\] as in the case of YBa2(Cu1-zZnz)4O8. They also ascribe this structure to the localization of the charge carriers in the static stripe phase due to the lack of $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in this material. However, Fujita et al. reported the evidence for CDW and SDW formations in 1/8 hole-doped La1.875Ba0.125-xSrxCuO4 by elastic neutron scattering experiments \[Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 167008 (2002)\].

## VI Acknowledgements

We would like to thank in particular Y. Okimoto and also K. Miyano, Y. Ogimoto, and Y. Tokura for giving fruitful comments and discussions. We are also grateful to T. Kawai for giving an opportunity of using SQUID apparatus, T. Kanki, I. Kawayama, K. Takahashi, and H. Tanaka for their help to SQUID measurements, and M. Misra for reading the manuscript.


format: text

text:
# Mid-IR Observations of Mira Circumstellar Environment

## 1 Introduction

Mira A (catalog ) ($`o`$ Ceti, Mira) is a cool pulsating giant of M2-7 III spectral type, with a mass comparable to our Sun and a diameter of several hundred solar radii. Prototype of the Mira-type class of Long Period Variables (LPVs), it has a period of 332$`d`$ during which its brightness changes by several magnitudes in the optical. Mira has a hot companion (Mira B) at an angular distance of $`0.6`$”. The companion is probably a white dwarf accreting from Mira’s wind (Reimers & Cassatella, 1985; Karovska et al., 1997).

Recent HST observations detected significant asymmetries in the giant’s atmosphere and found evidence for possible interaction with its companion. The HST Faint Object Camera (FOC) optical images showed that Mira A atmosphere is elongated in the direction of 175 with an apparent size of 56 mas. HST UV images showed a “hook-like” structure extending eastward from Mira A photosphere towards Mira B (NASA and STScI Press Release, 1997; Karovska et al., 1997). These results suggest that the companion may have an important role in shaping the circumstellar environment of the system.

Mira A is losing mass via a strong dust driven wind, at the rate of $`510^7`$ M yr-1 (see Loup et al., 1993, and references therein). As a consequence, the star is surrounded by an extended circumstellar envelope of gas and dust. Observations of Mira A molecular envelope at radio wavelengths show deviations from spherical symmetry (see e.g. Planesas et al., 1990; Josselin at al., 2000). The dust is revealed via its strong infrared excess (IRAS, 1986; Gezari, 1993), dominated by an emission feature at 10 µm which identify an O-rich composition (Monnier et al., 1998). Evidence for spatially extended emission from Mira circumstellar dust was first obtained by Bauer & Stencel (1994), analyzing the IRAS satellite data at 60 µm. More recently, mid-IR observations have been performed at 11 µm with the ISI interferometer, probing the dust distribution at a smaller spatial scale. By fitting the observed visibilities with models, Lopez et al. (1997) inferred the presence of asymmetries and inhomogeneities in Mira’s dust envelope.

Mira-type stars are in the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase, and are among the precursors of Planetary Nebulæ (see Habing, 1990, for a review). The dynamical evolution of AGB circumstellar envelopes is largely controlled by the dust component, which mediates the momentum transfer from the radiation field to the molecular gas. Mapping the spatial distribution of the dust grains in the Mira AB circumbinary environment is thus necessary to understand the future evolution of the system towards the PN phase, and the dynamics of the interaction between its two stellar components.

We present here the first sub-arcsecond mid-IR images of Mira A circumstellar environment which map the 2-dimensional distribution of the dust emission. The observations and the techniques for data acquisition and reduction are presented in the next section. The results are shown in section 3, and discussed in relation to other available observations and models.

## 2 Observations and Data Reductions

The observations were performed on September 22, 1999 (JD2451444) when the source was at light curve phase 0.7, close to minimum luminosity (AAVSO). We used the mid-IR camera MIRAC3 (Hoffmann et al., 1998), mounted at the 3.0m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). MIRAC3 uses a Boeing HF16 128$`\times `$128 Si:As blocked impurity band detector. On the IRTF MIRAC3 has a plate scale of 0.34 arcsec pix-1, providing a total field of view of 42”$`\times `$42”. This pixel scale ensures Nyquist sampling of the diffraction-limited Point Spread Function (PSF).

We obtained images of Mira AB in MIRAC3 9.8, 11.7 and 18.0 µm 10% passband filters, with a total on-source integration time of 1600 s at each wavelength. The reference star $`\alpha `$ Tau was observed when transiting at a similar airmass of the source, to provide flux and PSF calibration.

We used a standard nodding and chopping technique to remove the background signal, dithering the source on the array to obtain sub-sampling of the PSF. The chop frequency was set to 2 Hz, with a throw of 20” in the north-south direction. The nod throw was also set to 20”, but in the east-west direction, in order to have all four chop-nod beams inside the field of view of the array. Each individual nod cycle required 10 s on-source integration, and the procedure was repeated for as many cycles as needed to obtain the requested total integration time.

The data was analyzed by first subtracting the chop-on from the chop-off frames for both nodding beams. The two images thus obtained were then subtracted one from the other, in order to get a single frame in which the source appears in all four beams (two negative and two positive). We then applied a gain matrix, derived from images of the dome (high intensity uniform background) and the sky (low intensity uniform background), to flat field the chop-nodded image.

This procedure was repeated for each of the nodding cycles for which the source was observed. A final high signal-to-noise ratio cumulative image was then obtained by co-adding together all the beams, each re-centered and shifted on the source centroid. The last bit of co-adding was performed on a sub-pixel grid having the size of one-fifth (9.8 and 11.7 µm images) or one-third (18.0 µm image) of the original MIRAC3 pixels, thus providing a final pixel scale of 0.068 and 0.114 arcsec pix-1 respectively. A mask file to block out the effects of bad pixels and field vignetting was also created and applied at this stage, preventing individual rejected pixels from contributing to the final image. The same observing and reduction procedure was also used for the reference star, to ensure a uniform treatment of the source and the standard.

## 3 Results and Discussion

### 3.1 Source photometry

We first estimated the brightness of Mira AB using the multi-wavelength co-added images. The aperture photometry at the three observed wavelengths yields $`2710`$ Jy at 9.8 µm, $`2170`$ Jy at 11.7 µm and $`2020`$ Jy at 18.0 µm (see Table 1). Photometric errors are of the order of 5% at 9.8 and 11.7 µm and 8% at 18.0 µm.

Our measurements are consistent with the published mid-IR fluxes of the source (Gezari, 1993) which are in the range 1300–5400 Jy at $`10`$ µm, 1500–5500 Jy at 11–12 µm and 1100–2800 Jy around 18 µm. This wide spread, in part due to the large uncertainties of the published data, is a consequence of the source long period variability, which is still present at infrared wavelengths. Note that, in the mid-IR, only a small fraction of the overall luminosity is contributed by Mira A stellar flux, due to the greater brightness of the dust envelope. The observed infrared variability is thus affected by the changes in the physical and thermodynamical status of the circumstellar dust.

### 3.2 Size of Mira’s dust envelope

Our images of Mira AB at 9.8, 11.7 and 18.0 µm indicate that the dusty envelope is spatially resolved at all observed wavelengths. This is shown in Figure 1, which plots the azimuthal averages of the source and reference (radial profiles), normalized at the same peak value. In all panels the source profile has a larger FWHM than the reference star (assumed to be a point source), which is a clear indication of spatial extension. The measured FWHM are listed in Table 1.

We estimated the apparent size of Mira AB envelope as a function of wavelength by convolving the reference star profile with a gaussian model of Mira A envelope, and then fitting to the source radial profile. We obtained a FWHM of 0.34”, 0.35” and 0.86” for the best fit gaussian model at 9.8, 11.7 and 18.0 µm respectively. As expected, the apparent sizes of Mira are almost the same at 9.8 and 11.7 µm. Mira A envelope is significantly larger at 18 µm. We obtained very similar results using deconvolved images described in the next section. Using a Hipparcos measured distance of 128 pc (Perryman et al., 1997) we estimate the apparent spatial scale of Mira A dust envelope from 50 AU (at 10 µm) to 100 AU at 18 µm.

The measured apparent sizes of the dust envelope are 10-20 times larger then the apparent size of Mira A photosphere. For example, the mid-infrared observations using the ISI interferometer resolved Mira A stellar photosphere, measuring a uniform disk diameter of 47.8 mas (Weiner et al., 2000).

The larger size of the 18 µm envelope can be explained on the bases of the radiative transfer properties of AGB envelopes, which in general have a radial thermal structure that can be approximated with a power-law $`Tr^{0.4}`$ (Ivezić & Elitzur, 1997). Since the peak of emission for the dust radiation at a certain wavelength is inversely proportional to the grain temperature (Wien’s law), one should expect $`T_{18\mu \mathrm{m}}/T_{11.7\mu \mathrm{m}}0.65`$. This means that the size of the region where most of the 18 µm flux is produced should be $`r_{18\mu \mathrm{m}}2.9r_{10\mu \mathrm{m}}`$. This factor is similar to the measured ratio between the FWHM of the 18.0 and 11.7 µm deconvolved images ($`2.5`$), and much larger than the PSF spread due to the telescope resolving power (proportional to $`\lambda `$, e.g. $`1.5`$). Note that this calculation is only a rough estimate for the real size of the envelope. Better estimates can be obtained using models including physical parameters such as the dust condensation radius. This requires a simultaneous fitting of the radial intensity profile and the source spectral energy distribution, which allows derivation of the envelope optical depth $`\tau _V`$ and the inner shell temperature $`T_1`$ (Marengo et al., 2001). Results using these models will be presented in a separate paper.

### 3.3 Envelope asymmetries

Our multi-wavelength direct mid-IR images show asymmetries that aren’t seen in the images of the reference star taken with the same filters. We confirmed the presence of significant departures from spherical symmetry in Mira’s dust envelope by performing deconvolution using the Richardson-Lucy method (Richardson, 1972; Lucy, 1974). The images at 9.8 and 11.7 µm were deconvolved with the corresponding reference star images used as PSFs. This technique was not applied to the 18.0 µm image, due to the lower S/N of the source/reference pair.

The deconvolved images are similar at 9.8 and 11.7 µm, as shown in Figure 2. They show that the spatial distribution of the dust in Mira A circumstellar environment is clearly not spherical. Two dominant asymmetries are detected in the images: one with a major axis position angle of 175, and another at a position angle of approximately 110.

The first asymmetry is in the same direction as the asymmetry in the Mira A TiO envelope observed with the HST in 1995 (Karovska et al., 1997), but its apparent size is roughly ten times larger then the one measured in the HST images. Near-IR images obtained in the JHK bands by Cruzalèbes et al. (1998) also show a N-S elongated shape, which has been interpreted as scattered light from dust. The observed asymmetries could be due to an asymmetric outflow, as suggested by Planesas et al. (1990) and Josselin at al. (2000).

The second dominant asymmetry in Mira AB mid-IR images is in the direction of the companion. This is in agreement with earlier mid-IR observations suggesting the presence of an eastward asymmetry (Lopez et al., 1997; Meixner, 2000). Figure 2 shows the location of the companion as observed by the HST in the late 1995 (Karovska et al., 1997). We do not expect that the position angle and the separation of the companion have changed substantially since 1995, because of its long orbital period of several hundred years (Baize, 1980). Our images indicate that the companion is embedded in the elongated dust envelope of Mira A. Because of the limited angular resolution in these observations we cannot determine if the asymmetry is due to a second unresolved clump located in the vicinity of the companion, or is a continuous extension of the Mira A dust envelope toward the companion.

Furthermore, a fainter clump slightly above the noise level is resolved at a distance of 1.1” from the main source, with a position angle 115. Its brightness is $`14.0\pm 1.5`$ Jy at 9.8 µm and $`11.0\pm 1.0`$ Jy at 11.7 µm, which is a factor $`200`$ fainter than the main source. We estimate a color temperature of $`390\pm 100`$ K, obtained by black body fitting of the clump brightness at the two observed wavelengths. The presence of dust clumps has been suggested by interferometric observations using the ISI 11 µm visibilities by Lopez et al. (1997). Their “Clump 3” model, in particular, invokes the presence of dust clumps with position angle 120, which may thus be associated with our observed structures.

The mid-IR observations of Mira AB system indicate that the shape of Mira A circumstellar envelope may be directly influenced by the presence of the companion orbiting the main AGB mass losing star. Hydrodynamic models in dusty winds of close binary systems (Mastrodemos & Morris, 1999) predict the formation of spiral shocks in the orbital plane, which trail and follow the secondary star. The structures observed in the mid-IR may be related to this kind of phenomenon. However, the interpretation of the observed geometry is still open, given that the dynamics of the interactions between the two components of close binary systems is not well understood.

## 4 Conclusions

Our mid-IR images of Mira AB dust envelope show significant departures from spherical symmetry. They also indicate that the overall distribution of the circumstellar dust is affected by the presence of a companion. Given the role of dust in shaping the future dynamical evolution of the system, these observations not only give a better characterization of the geometry of the Mira AB binary system, but may also contribute to a better understanding of the formation of asymmetric PN.

Many details of the transition from AGB to PNs cannot be explained on the basis of the spherically symmetric “interacting stellar winds” theory (Kwok et al., 1978) which defines the general framework of PN formation. High resolution HST images of PNs reveal a general absence of spherical symmetry, in favor of bipolar structures enriched by a multitude of micro-structures (jets, clumps, “fliers”, etc…). Optical and mid-IR images of post-AGB and pre-PN (Sahai et al., 1998; Meixner et al., 1999; Ueta et al., 2000) show envelope asymmetries already present before the onset of the PN phase. How these structures evolve is unknown. The results of our IR observations show that Mira AB offers the possibility of observing the beginning of this process.

We thank the IRTF staff for their outstanding support. M. K. is a member of the Chandra Science Center, which is operated under contract NAS8-39073, and is partially supported by NASA. We also thanks the referee for his useful comments.

Figure 1. Radial profiles of Mira AB image (solid line) and of the reference image (dashed line) at 9.8, 11.7 and 18.0 µm.

Figure 2. Deconvolved images of Mira AB at 9.8 and 11.7 µm. North is up and West is right. The location of Mira B, as observed by the HST in 1995, is marked by a cross; the arrow indicates the orientation of the dominant asymmetry in the 1995 HST image of Mira A (Karovska et al., 1997). The contours are plotted for 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.5 of the maximum flux density level.


text:
# Sympathetic cooling and growth of a Bose-Einstein condensate

## I Introduction

The cooling of atoms in traps is an important tool in the study of ultracold Bose or Fermi gases. Usually, the last step in the cooling process is evaporative cooling. This technique, however, can only be used for sufficiently strongly interacting gases since thermodynamic equilibrium of the cooled gas must be (nearly) attained during the entire cooling process. There is a number of gases in which the interaction is too weak for evaporative cooling to work. Moreover, because of the exclusion principle the method fails at low temperature for identical Fermions with parallel spins fer . In such cases, one resorts to “sympathetic cooling”: Another gas is cooled evaporatively and acts as the cooling agent for the gas to be cooled.

The method of sympathetic cooling was proposed almost twenty years agowin78 ; dru80  and has since found widespread application (see Refs. lar86 ; van85 ). Exciting recent applications include the sympathetic cooling of atoms of different species: 41K and 87Rb modugno , 7Li and 144Cs mudrich , of different isotopes of the same species: the bosonic species 85Rb cooled by 87Rb bloch  and 6Li Fermions in a bath of 7Li Bosons truscott ; schreck , and the production of dual Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) with sympathetic coolingmyatt ; delannoy . Only a few theoretical descriptions of sympathetic cooling exist. The simplest descriptions are purely classical while more sophisticated employ the quantum Boltzmann equation or master equations. Delannoy et al. delannoy  and Mosk et al. Mosk  derived a classical formula for the time dependence of the temperature and a classical formula for the cooling rate. Geist et al. Geist  have formulated sympathetic cooling of Fermi gases in terms of a quantum Boltzmann equation. The tremendous simplification of the collision matrix elements achieved in this way precludes, however, a quantitative description of the cooling process. Lewenstein et al. lew95  derived a master equation for sympathetic cooling. Unfortunately, that master equation is too complex to be practically useful. Recently, the present authors simplified this master equation by means of decoherence and ergodicity arguments psw  and obtained two different sets of rate equations that both describe sympathetic cooling of Bose or Fermi gases. These rate equations are simple enough to permit practical calculations while they contain detailed information about the quantum scattering processes between the cooled gas and the bath.

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we want to compare the solutions of our rate equations with the much simpler expression for the classical cooling rate obtained by Delannoy et al. delannoy  and Mosk al. Mosk . Second, we use the rate equations to study the growth of a Bose–Einstein condensate for a system of 23Na cooled by 87Rb, and for 7Li in a bath of 133Cs.

This article is organized as follows. In Section II we present the rate equations that we use. The results, i.e. the comparison between quantum and classical cooling rates and the study of the growth of the condensate, are presented in Sect. III. Finally we give our summary.

## II Rate equations for sympathetic cooling

In this Section we present two different sets of rate equations that are derived in ref. psw . Both sets of rate equations have been derived from a master equation lew95  for sympathetic cooling by means of decoherence and ergodicity arguments. It is assumed that the cooling agent has a considerably larger mass than the gas to be cooled. The latter consists of $`N_A`$ (very weakly interacting) bosons in a spherically harmonic trap of frequency $`\nu `$. Single-particle trap orbitals have energies $`\epsilon _\stackrel{}{m}=\mathrm{}\nu (m_x+m_y+m_z)`$ where $`\stackrel{}{m}=(m_x,m_y,m_z)`$ denotes the set of Cartesian quantum numbers, and the single-particle ground state energy is set to zero.

The first set of rate equations describes how the mean occupation number $`n_{\stackrel{}{m}_0}`$ of orbital $`\stackrel{}{m}_0`$ changes due to interactions with the cooling agent:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}}n_{\stackrel{}{m}_0}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{}{m}(\stackrel{}{m}_0)}{}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{m}_0}^{\stackrel{}{m}_0,\stackrel{}{m}}n_\stackrel{}{m}(t)\left(n_{\stackrel{}{m}_0}(t)+1\right)`$ (1)
$``$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{}{m}(\stackrel{}{m}_0)}{}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\stackrel{}{m}_0,\stackrel{}{m}}^{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{m}_0}\left(n_\stackrel{}{m}(t)+1\right)n_{\stackrel{}{m}_0}(t).`$
The form of these equations is intuitively obvious. Note that the rate equations (1) are of mean-field type and neglect correlations between occupancies of different single-particle orbitals. Particle number conservation implies that this approximation may fail when the occupancy of the ground state $`\stackrel{}{m}=0`$ approaches the total number of particles in the gas to be cooled. Particular solutions to these mean-field type rate equations are discussed in Refs. MF .

The rate coefficients $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\stackrel{}{n},\stackrel{}{m}}^{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{n}}`$ are input to the rate equations (1). For the computation of the rate coefficients $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ we assume that the bath particles are Boltzmann-distributed. A practical recipe for their computation is given in Ref.psw . We express the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$’s in units of

$$\omega =(32\pi ^4)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_B^3n_B(a/l_0)^2[(M+m)^2/(Mm)]\nu .$$
(2)
Here $`n_B`$ is the density of bath particles, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_B=(2\pi \mathrm{}^2\beta _B/M)^{1/2}`$ their thermal de–Broglie wave length, $`\beta _B`$ the inverse temperature, $`l_0`$ the oscillator length, and $`M`$ and $`m`$ are the mass of the cooling agent and the gas to be cooled, respectively. The interaction between bath and system is described in terms of the $`s`$-wave scattering length $`a`$.

The second set of rate equations is based on a microcanonical approach and describes how the probability $`p_M`$ of having the gas to be cooled at total energy $`M\mathrm{}\nu `$ changes with time:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}p_M}{\mathrm{d}t}}=2{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{}{m}\stackrel{}{n}}{}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\stackrel{}{n},\stackrel{}{m}}^{\stackrel{}{m},\stackrel{}{n}}`$ (3)
$`\times \left(p_{M+\alpha }n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_{M+\alpha }p_Mn_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_M\right).`$
Here, $`\alpha \mathrm{}\nu =\epsilon _\stackrel{}{n}\epsilon _\stackrel{}{m}`$ is the energy transfer, $`n_\stackrel{}{m}`$ is the occupancy of single-particle orbital $`\stackrel{}{m}`$, and $`n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_M`$ denotes the mean value of $`n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]`$ taken over the many-body states with fixed energy $`M\mathrm{}\nu `$. They are thus microcanonical averages of occupancies. It is straightforward to check that $`_M\mathrm{d}p_M(t)/\mathrm{d}t=0`$. In Eq. (3), the $`p_M`$’s are the unknowns while the rate coefficients $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the quantities $`n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_M`$ are input quantities defined in the framework of our model. The rate coefficients are identical to those used in the mean-field type rate equations (1). To compute the quantities $`n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_M`$ we neglect correlations by putting $`n_\stackrel{}{n}[n_\stackrel{}{m}+1]_Mn_\stackrel{}{n}_M[n_\stackrel{}{m}_M+1]`$ and replace the microcanonical average by the grand canonical average

$`n_\stackrel{}{m}_M`$ $`=`$ $`n_\stackrel{}{m}(z,T)`$ (4)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{z(E)\mathrm{exp}[\epsilon _\stackrel{}{m}/\kappa T(E)]}{1z(E)\mathrm{exp}[\epsilon _\stackrel{}{m}/\kappa T(E)]}}|_{E=M\mathrm{}\nu }.`$
Expressions for the energy-dependent fugacity $`z(E)`$ and temperature $`T(E)`$ can be obtained numerically from the grand canonical partition function of non-interacting bosons in a harmonic trap. For details, we refer the reader to Ref.psw . Note that the the microcanonical rate equations are expected to be valid also in the regime of BEC.

## III Results

We study the cooling process for different temperatures of the bath and for different combinations of bath and system. The system always consists of $`N_A=400`$ Bosons and the harmonic trap is cut off beyond the single-particle orbitals with energy $`K\mathrm{}\nu `$, $`K=21`$. In the microcanonical approach, the homogeneous system of linear rate equations (3) can be put into matrix form. For stability reasons, the real parts of the eigenvalues of this matrix must be zero or negative. The equilibrium solution is determined by the eigenvalue zero. The equilibration rate is given by the modulus of the real part of the eigenvalue with largest negative real part. The leading eigenvalues are computed using the sparse matrix solver Arpack Arpack . Within our numerical accuracy we found one zero eigenvalue and no eigenvalues with positive real parts. The results for the equilibration rate $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eq}}`$ are listed in Table 1. The temperatures are chosen such that $`\kappa T=7\mathrm{}\nu `$ is close to the critical temperature while $`\kappa T=3\mathrm{}\nu `$ yields a BEC at the end of the cooling process ($`\kappa `$ denotes Boltzmann’s constant).

We turn to the rate equations (1). We took the Bosons of the system $`A`$ to be initially equally distributed over the degenerate single–particle orbitals with energy $`K\mathrm{}\nu `$, all other orbitals being empty. This initial configuration has the highest energy that can be realized in the finite trap we are considering. While details of the initial conditions are reflected in the short-time evolution they cannot affect the long-time behavior and the equilibration rate. The rate equations (1) need to be modified in the regime of BEC; we therefore restrict the computation to the case $`\kappa T=7\mathrm{}\nu `$. We solve the rate equations numerically and extract the equilibration rate $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ from the solution at large times. The results are listed in Table 1. Note that the equilibration rates $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eq}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ depend only very weakly on the composition of system and bath for $`\kappa T=7\mathrm{}\nu `$. Comparing the rate $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eq}}`$ obtained in the microcanonical approach with the rate $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ from factorization, we note that the former is about a factor $`1.7`$ larger than the latter. The time evolution however shows that the loss of energy at short times is practically identical in both approaches. Most of the energy is removed from system $`A`$ during the early part of the cooling process. Therefore, both approaches yield comparable predictions for the cooling time.

It is difficult to compare our full time dependence with that of the classical theory delannoy ; Mosk  since we assumed a finite trap and, thus, different initial conditions. It is however meaningful to compare equilibration rates since these do not depend on initial conditions. In order to compare the equilibration rates, we have adjusted the formulas of Ref.delannoy ; Mosk  to the case of a homogeneous bath. In Table 1, the classical rate $`\overline{\gamma }_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ (which decreases quadratically with decreasing temperature) is seen to be about a factor 2 larger than the quantum–mechanical rate $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eq}}`$) below the condensation temperature, and a factor 1.7 to 3 smaller in the regime of BEC. This casts some doubt on the possibility to describe sympathetic cooling in terms of the much simpler classical theory.

It is particularly interesting to study the growth of a BEC. As pointed out above, the rate equations (1) cannot be used in this regime. We chose $`1\kappa T=3\mathrm{}\nu `$ and followed the time evolution of the total energy $`E(t)=\mathrm{}\nu _MMp_M(t)`$ by solving the rate equations (3) numerically. As initial conditions we took $`p_{KN_A}=1`$ and $`p_M=0`$ for $`M<KN_A`$. This is the configuration with highest energy that might be realized in the open trap. Using the grand canonical partition function, we obtain the time-dependent temperature $`T(E)`$ for the system, and the time-dependent ground state occupation number $`n_0`$ from Eq.(4). Fig. 1 shows the result for two different systems. Note that the BEC grows faster in the Rb-Na system, which also has the larger equilibration rate \[in units of $`\omega `$, see eq. (2)\]. The reason for this behavior is not easy to understand: Table 1 shows that equilibration rates for both systems are quite similar at temperature $`\kappa T/\mathrm{}\nu =7`$ while they differ considerably below the critical temperature. Note that a naive (and classical) explanation would link the difference in rates to the smaller momentum transfer during Li-Cs collisions and thereby to the larger mass difference. Our quantum mechanical results show that the situation is more complex. The onset of BEC is rather sudden and non-exponential while the long time evolution is exponential. Qualitatively similar observations have been made in numerical simulations of evaporative cooling luiten ; holland ; gardiner . One does not obtain 100% BEC since the final temperature is only about half the condensation temperature and the system is not of macroscopic size.

## IV Summary

In summary, we have used two sets of rate equations to describe sympathetic cooling of Bose gases by a much heavier gas. Practical calculations in the systems 23Na-87Rb and 7Li-133Cs show that the cooling times from both rate equations agree well with each other. Our quantum–mechanical equilibration rates are in fair agreement with each other but differ considerably from the classical rates. This is unfortunate since the classical approach is much simpler than the quantum–mechanical description presented in this work. We studied the growth of the Bose-Einstein condensate and found that the condensate in the system 23Na-87Rb grows faster than in 7Li-133Cs. At the onset of Bose–Einstein condensation we observe a rather sudden and non–exponential growth of the condensate.

## Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to A. Mosk and M. Weidemüller for suggesting this problem, and for many stimulating discussions. They also thank S. J. Wang for valuable suggestions. T.P. thanks the Max–Planck–Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, for its hospitality during the initial stages of this work. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.


text:
# Novel Ferromagnetic Atom Waveguide with in situ Loading

## Abstract

Magneto-optic and magnetostatic trapping is realized near a surface using current carrying coils wrapped around magnetizable cores. A cloud of $`10^7`$ Cesium atoms is created with currents less than 50 mA. Ramping up the current while maintaining optical dissipation leads to tightly confined atom clouds with an aspect ratio of 1:1000. We study the 3D character of the magnetic potential and characterize atom number and density as a function of the applied current. The field gradient in the transverse dimension has been varied from $`<`$ 10 G/cm to $`>`$ 1 kG/cm. By loading and cooling atoms in-situ, we have eliminated the problem of coupling from a MOT into a smaller phase space.

Encouraged by the recent successful demonstration of Bose Einstein condensation in atomic vapors, and the macroscopic coherence properties of this new state of matter, many groups are pursuing the integration of several complex atom-optical devices on a single substrate. Atomic waveguides are likely to be a building block of such atom-optic devices. Magnetic waveguides for atoms have been demonstrated, confining weak field seeking atoms in a local magnetic field minimum. Most guides are based on current carrying wires, either suspended in free space, embedded in a tube or lithographically patterned on a substrate.

In this paper, we describe a new approach to create magnetic waveguides that transport neutral atoms above the surface of a substrate, by exploiting magnetic materials poled by time dependent currents. This approach has several major advantages over systems that simply use current carrying wires to create the waveguides.

Firstly, the capture volume for collecting atoms from the background vapor can be much larger. For a typical gradient of 10 G/cm, the capture volume for a wire-based guide is about $`10^4`$ cm2 times the length of the guide. In contrast, the ferromagnetic structures used in our experiment have capture volumes of around 1 cm2 times the length. This is due to the different range of the magnetic potential determined by the size of the structure, 100 $`\mu `$m for the wire-based traps and 1 cm in our case. The large capture volume has allowed us to trap a large number of atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using the same quadrupole field that will be used to form the magnetic waveguide. We transfer the atoms from the MOT into the waveguide by ramping the magnetic field by around 3 orders of magnitude to produce a very high gradient waveguide at the same position as the initial MOT with the transferred atoms remaining cold in all three dimensions. Since all the atoms are loaded in situ, the transfer between the low and high gradient waveguides can be made very efficient. Thus we avoid the more traditional process of dropping or pushing atoms into a tightly confined waveguide which results in inefficient transfer and increase in temperature.

Secondly, the large distance of the center of the waveguide from the surface allows us to protect the atoms from heating due to interactions between the atoms and the surface. Moreover, the high field gradients result in a transverse width of the atom cloud which is much smaller than the distance from the surface. This inhibits losses due to collisions with the surface. Also, any inhomogeneities in the magnetic field due to small imperfections on the surface of the ferromagnetic foils are smoothed out at the location of the waveguide.

Thirdly, the amplification of the magnetic field by the ferromagnetic foils implies a smaller current is required to generate a given peak magnetic field. This results in greatly reduced ohmic heating. In our setup, the ferromagnetic cores amplify the field due to the wires typically by a factor of 50. Thus, the initial gradient of around 7 G/cm for the MOT was realized by running less than 50 mA around the ferromagnetic cores. We have achieved gradients on the order of 1 kG/cm and trap depths of more than 100 G with less than 100 W of dissipation. This reduced heating is important since one of the modes of failure of previous devices based on current carrying wires was the fusing of wires due to local heating when running currents of a few amperes.

Finally, these structures permit much larger field gradients and trap depths than can be obtained in systems using only current carrying wires. The peak field at the surface of a ferromagnetic core that is fully poled is equal to the saturation field of that material which ranges from around 4 kG to 20 kG. Steep magnetic traps can be formed by using ferromagnetic structures of suitably small size. This results in a larger compression of the atoms from the initial MOT, leading to higher densities and improved collision rates for evaporative cooling. Also, the large gradients imply tighter confinement and larger ground state energies and mode spacings. Moreover, this would enable us to guide the confined atoms in tight loops permitting the fabrication of reciprocal atom interferometers with large enclosed areas and small length. For instance, our demonstrated gradient of 1 kG/cm would allow us to transport atoms moving at 1 m/s around a loop of radius 6 mm giving an interferometer with an enclosed area larger than 1 cm2.

For a quadrupole potential $`U(r)=F|r|`$, the transverse mode spacing is $`\left(F^2\mathrm{}^2/2m\right)^{1/3}`$ in energy units and the ground state width is given by $`\left(2mF/\mathrm{}^2\right)^{1/3}`$. We have experimentally achieved 1D magnetic traps with transverse mode spacings of around 10 kHz (0.5 $`\mu `$K) and ground state sizes less than 50 nm. The large aspect ratio (1:1000) of the eventual magnetostatic trap realized in our experiment makes this system an attractive candidate for investigation of the Tonk’s gas regime. Similar structures of smaller size, made with ferromagnetic materials of larger saturation fields, should permit gradients of $`10^7`$ G/cm. The configuration described in this work can also be used to split a waveguide in the transverse dimension with the aid of an external bias field.

A schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Fig.1. Two pairs of ferromagnetic foils (80% Ni, 15.5% Fe, 4.5% Mo) are mounted on a rigid platform at separations of 1 mm. Both pairs of foils are 0.5 mm thick and 5 cm long along the long axis. The inner pair of foils is cut to a height of 1 cm while the outer pair is cut to a height of 2.5 cm. Thin kapton insulated wires are wound around these foils with 9 turns around the inner pair and 25 turns around the outer pair. Depending on the sense of the current around each foil, the foils can be individually magnetized in one of two directions.

In the situation where the foils are magnetized in opposite directions, the direction of the field at the plane of symmetry due to one pair of foils is completely horizontal and its magnitude varies with height above the surface as

$$B(z,x=0)=c_0\frac{\mu _0}{2\pi }\frac{NI}{l}\frac{sw}{z^2+s^2/4+w^2/4}$$
(1)
where $`I`$ is the current around the ferromagnetic foils, $`N`$ the number of windings and $`z`$ the height above the surface. $`l`$, $`s`$ and $`w`$ are the height of the foils, separation between the pair of foils and the thickness of each foil respectively. The dimensionless constant $`c_0`$ depends on the geometry and material of the ferromagnetic foils and is experimentally found to be around 50.

Due to the geometry of these foils, the potential is very shallow along the long (waveguide) axis and the magnetic trap has a large aspect ratio. A pair of trapping beams perpendicular to the long axis of the waveguide is reflected off a gold coated mirror at an angle of 45. This mirror is glued to the surface of the foils as indicated in Fig.1. Another pair of counterpropagating laser beams grazes the mirror surface along the long axis of the guide. This geometry is similar to a mirror MOT but in this case, the quadrupole fields are generated by the ferromagnetic foils underneath the mirror. Additionally, changing the polarization of the laser beams along the guide does not significantly change the number of trapped atoms indicating that the atoms are damped but not trapped in this dimension. The length of the cloud along the waveguide is limited by the waist of the laser beam and equals 1 cm in our case. We emphasize that the MOT in which the atoms are initially loaded and cooled is at the same location as the magnetic waveguide into which the atoms are eventually loaded and compressed.

It is important to characterize the fields generated by the ferromagnetic foils as a function of the current and the height above the surface. This was done by two independent methods.

In the first method, the fields due to the inner and outer pair of foils were determined with a calibrated commercial tape head on a micrometer translation stage. The measurements were performed by running ac currents of 10 mA at a frequency of 150 Hz around the foils. It was verified that the pickup voltage does not depend on the ac frequency. These measurements are shown in Fig.1(b). The calculations in Fig.1(c) show that the gradient can be increased while keeping the trap minimum at the same height above the surface.

Next, the system was placed in a UHV chamber pumped to a typical pressure of $`5\times 10^9`$ mbar. Currents of up to 1A were run around either the inner or the outer pair of foils. By cancelling these fields at the plane of symmetry with an external horizontal field of known magnitude, magneto-optic traps were created at different heights above the surface. At the position of the cloud, the magnitude of the bias field is equal to that of the ferromagnetic foils, by construction. Therefore, this constitutes an alternative calibration of the field as a function of distance to the surface. This measurement using cold atoms shows good agreement with the data in Fig.1(b).

Using an external bias field does not exploit the benefits of the ferromagnetic materials and imposes a limit on the maximum gradient that can obtained. However, MOTs can also be formed by exclusively running currents around the inner and outer pair of foils, without any external bias field. By using the outer pair of ferromagnetic foils to provide the cancelling field, waveguides with larger gradients and trap depths can be realized. Also, the waveguide can be formed without an external field. When $`I_{inner}`$ and $`I_{outer}`$ are increased by the same factor $`\gamma `$, the gradient should increase by $`\gamma `$ without changing the height of the trap as shown in Fig.1(c). To verify this, we have measured the height of the atom cloud above the surface and plotted the results in Fig.2. In this experiment, the ratio $`I_{outer}/I_{inner}`$ were 1/3, 1/2 and 3/4 corresponding to heights of 1.5 mm, 1.1 mm and 0.8 mm respectively. This is in agreement with the previous calibration.

Quantitative information about the temperature and the density of the cloud requires investigating the width of the MOT. Initially, atoms were collected at a gradient of 7 G/cm. Then, $`I_{inner}`$ and $`I_{outer}`$ were slowly increased in proportion. After 20 ms, the cloud was imaged on a CCD camera to determine the half width at half maximum (HWHM). Assuming that the transverse motion of the atoms is in equilibrium with the initial temperature, the transverse width of the magneto-optic trap $`r^2k_BT/\kappa `$ where $`\kappa `$, the spring constant of the magneto-optic trap is linearly proportional to the gradient $`b`$. Thus, $`r_{MOT}b^{1/2}`$. An investigation of the transverse widths of the MOT and the magnetic trap for a wide range of gradients (Fig.3) shows excellent agreement with this model. To our knowledge, this large dynamic range (almost 3 orders of magnitude) has not been achieved in a waveguide before. We have also investigated the width of the cloud in the magnetostatic trap. In this case, the laser beams were switched off 3 ms after ramping the currents. After a dark period of 100 ms, the MOT beams were switched on to image the cloud for 6 ms. For adiabatic compression, we expect the width to scale as $`b^{1/3}`$ for a linear potential and $`b^{1/4}`$ for a harmonic potential. However, assuming that the MOT beams cool the cloud to its initial temperature, the width should scale as $`b^1`$ for a linear potential. As indicated by the dotted line in Fig.3, this is the case in the regime 10 $`<b<`$ 200 G/cm. Above 200 G/cm, the oscillation period $`T=2\pi \sqrt{m/\kappa }`$ of atoms in the MOT is smaller than the camera exposure time, restoring the MOT width. Similar results were obtained when the gradient of the magnetostatic trap was increased in the dark. Assuming an equal distribution of $`m_F`$ states, the transverse temperature is calculated to be approximately 20 $`\mu `$K. These data suggest that dissipation can be maintained well into the regime of collisional loss.

The number of atoms in the elongated atom clouds is deduced from the fluorescence images. Due to the small transverse size of the atom clouds, a commercial parfocal zoom lens (VZM 450) is used for magnification. The solid angle of this lens and the efficiency of the CCD chip were measured in a separate experiment. The scattering rate of atoms in the MOT was calculated using the experimental parameters for the laser intensity and detuning, averaging over the Clebsch Gordon coefficients. The variation of atom number with the gradient is shown in Fig.4. This data can be combined with the transverse width of the atom clouds to estimate the peak density at the various gradients. It can be seen that the density saturates at large gradients. This feature has been observed in 3D traps, and is due to multiple photon scattering. The number of atoms decreases at the higher gradients due to light induced collisional losses. Increasing the detuning and decreasing the intensity of the trapping light as the gradient is ramped up should improve the number of trapped atoms.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated direct loading of atoms into a ferromagnetic waveguide with large gradient and trap depth. Our measurements of the magnetic fields, both with an audio tape head and with a cold atom cloud, agree well with a simple model. Due to the large relative permeability, ferromagnetic materials offer the possibility of reaching large energy splittings between vibrational states. This large gap may be important to preserve coherence during matter wave transportation and to facilitate cooling. By applying an external bias field in the system described, we have also demonstrated a bifurcation of the trapping potential to form a double well. This results in an experimentally observed splitting of the elongated cloud in the transverse dimension which is coherent in the adiabatic limit. An atom interferometer in time may be formed by applying a nonadiabatic phase shift to one of the arms.

Our system also permits a long guide ($``$ 1 m), where cold atoms are continuously injected at one end, and evaporative cooling is performed along the guide. Dalibard and coworkers have proposed a similar system to create a cw atom laser. Our experiments offer prospects of creating Bose condensates on a substrate on a much shorter time scale or even continuously.

The authors gratefully acknowledge valuable discussions with N. H. Dekker, S. A. Lee and G. Zabow. We are indebted to T. Deng for preparing ultrathin gold mirrors. This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant Numbers: PHY-9876929 and PHY-0071311 and MURI Grant Number: Y-00-0007.