Eur. Phys. J. D 11, 367-370 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070064

Thermodynamics of Bose-condensed atomic hydrogen

¹ Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Unità di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
³ Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università dell'Insubria, Via Lucini 3, 23100 Como, Italy

Received: 15 February 2000
Published online: 15 September 2000

Abstract

We study the thermodynamics of the Bose-condensed atomic hydrogen confined in the Ioffe-Pritchard potential. Such a trapping potential, that models the magnetic trap used in recent experiments with hydrogen, is anharmonic and strongly anisotropic. We calculate the ground-state properties, the condensed and non-condensed fraction and the Bose-Einstein transition temperature. The thermodynamics of the system is strongly affected by the anharmonicity of this external trap. Finally, we consider the possibility to detect Josephson-like currents by creating a double-well barrier with a laser beam.