Abstract

The recentralisation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a trapped gas of ultracold alkali atoms [1–3] has caused a great challenge to theorists. One of the most interesting questions is how to detect and observe a Bose-Einstein condensate. The detection of the condensate concerns the study of different physical properties of the Bose condensed atomic gas. In the recent BEC experiments [1,2], the characteristics of the absorption profiles of a probe light pulse is employed to determine the existence of a Bose-Einstein condensate. In addition, the spectral characteristics of the scattered light are theoretically proposed to detect the Bose-Einstein condensate as well [4], However, in the optical detection of BEC, the condensate will be destroyed by the spontaneous emission of atoms.

© 1996 Optical Society of America