= Observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in sodium in 1995
The 1995 <sodium> experiment combined <laser cooling> with a magnetic quadrupole trap and a repulsive optical plug protecting its field zero. <Radio frequency> evaporation preceded release and <absorption imaging> after <time of flight>. Lowering the evaporation cut produced broad thermal wings and a narrow core. Moving the plug changed the core's expansion orientation while the thermal distribution remained spherical: a control connecting the feature to confinement. Overlap of the two trapped pockets and residual switch-off acceleration limited quantitative shape comparisons; repulsive interactions affected expansion.<Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Gas of Sodium Atoms by K. B. Davis and others>[pp. 3969–3972, Figs. 1–4]{ref}
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