Tunable dipolar resonances and Einstein-de Haas effect in a Rb-87 atoms condensate

Abstract

We study a spinor condensate of Rb-87 atoms in F = 1 hyperfine state confined in an optical dipole trap. Putting initially all atoms in mF = 1 component we observe a significant transfer of atoms to other, initially empty Zeeman states exclusively due to dipolar forces. Because of conservation of a total angular momentum the atoms going to other Zeeman components acquire an orbital angular momentum and circulate around the center of the trap. This is a realization of Einstein-de Haas effect in a system of cold gases. We show that the transfer of atoms via dipolar interaction is possible only when the energies of the initial and the final sates are equal. This condition can be fulfilled utilizing a resonant external magnetic field, which tunes energies of involved states via the linear Zeeman effect. We found that there are many final states of different spatial density which can be tuned selectively to the initial state. We show a simple model explaining high selectivity and controllability of weak dipolar interactions in the condensate of Rb-87 atoms.