Expansion of a dipolar condensate

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate expands when released from a trap, highlighting the detectability of anisotropic effects due to dipolar interactions under current experimental setups.

Contribution

It demonstrates the observable anisotropic expansion effects in dipolar condensates when the s-wave interaction is tunable via Feshbach resonance.

Findings

Anisotropic expansion patterns are detectable in dipolar condensates.

Tuning s-wave interactions enhances dipolar effects during expansion.

Experimental conditions are suitable for observing these anisotropic effects.

Abstract

We discuss the expansion of an initially trapped dipolar condensate. When the nominal isotropic s-wave interaction strength becomes tunable through a Feshbach resonance, anisotropic dipolar effects are shown to be detectable under current experimental conditions [E. A. Donley {\it et al.}, Nature {\bf 412}, 295 (2001)].