Evaporative Cooling in a Bose Gas

Abstract

A method of simulating the evaporative cooling of neutral atoms in a magnetic trap is presented. The method is based on kinetic theory and an assumption of ergodicity. An application of this method to the experimental conditions in the Utrecht BEC experiment is compared to measurements. The simulation is found to be accurate down to a temperature of 10 microkelvin. Its predictive power makes it a valuable tool in optimizing the cooling process.