Multimode feedback cooling of the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate
Ryan J. Thomas, Jordan A. McMahon, Zain Mehdi, Stuart S. Szigeti, Simon A. Haine, Samuel Legge, John D. Close, Joseph J. Hope
Published: 2025/6/24
Abstract
We experimentally demonstrate cavity-free feedback cooling of the three lowest-lying collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a prolate harmonic trap. Using shadowgraph imaging as an in situ probe of the atomic density, we measure the time-dependent centers of mass and widths of the condensate in two dimensions and use these measurements to damp oscillations in the two visible dipole modes and the low-frequency quadrupole mode. By inducing oscillations in the condensate, we show that we can efficiently damp the dipole modes to a final mean phonon occupancy per atom of $<1$.