Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

The de Broglie Wavelength

The de Broglie Wavelength

In the macroscopic world, objects that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye follow the rules of classical physics. A billiard ball moving on a table will behave like a particle; it will continue traveling in a straight line unless it collides with another ball, or it is acted on by some other force, such as friction. The ball has a well-defined position and velocity or well-defined momentum, p = mv, which is defined by mass m and velocity v at any given moment. This is the typical...

Van der Waals Interactions

Van der Waals Interactions

Atoms and molecules interact with each other through intermolecular forces. These electrostatic forces arise from attractive or repulsive interactions between particles with permanent, partial, or temporary charges. The intermolecular forces between neutral atoms and molecules are ion–dipole, dipole–dipole, and dispersion forces, collectively known as van der Waals forces.Polar molecules have a partial positive charge on one end and a partial negative charge on the other end of the molecule,...

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution

Near absolute zero temperatures, in the presence of a magnetic field, the majority of nuclei prefer the lower energy spin-up state to the higher energy spin-down state. As temperatures increase, the energy from thermal collisions distributes the spins more equally between the two states. The Boltzmann distribution equation gives the ratio of the number of spins predicted in the spin −½ (N−) and spin +½ (N+) states.

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes

In the absence of an external magnetic field, nuclear spin states are degenerate and randomly oriented. When a magnetic field is applied, the spins begin to precess and orient themselves along (lower energy) or against (higher energy) the direction of the field. At equilibrium, a slight excess population of spins exists in the lower energy state. Because the direction of the magnetic field is fixed as the z-axis, the precessing magnetic moments are randomly oriented around the z-axis. This...

Comparing Intermolecular Forces: Melting Point, Boiling Point, and Miscibility

Comparing Intermolecular Forces: Melting Point, Boiling Point, and Miscibility

Intermolecular forces are attractive forces that exist between molecules. They dictate several bulk properties, such as melting points, boiling points, and solubilities (miscibilities) of substances. Molar mass, molecular shape, and polarity affect the strength of different intermolecular forces, which influence the magnitude of physical properties across a family of molecules.
Temporary attractive forces like dispersion are present in all molecules, whether they are polar or nonpolar. They...

Entropy

Entropy

Salt particles that have dissolved in water never spontaneously come back together in solution to reform solid particles. Moreover, a gas that has expanded in a vacuum remains dispersed and never spontaneously reassembles. The unidirectional nature of these phenomena is the result of a thermodynamic state function called entropy (S). Entropy is the measure of the extent to which the energy is dispersed throughout a system, or in other words, it is proportional to the degree of disorder of a...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Imaging the Rovibrational Ground State of the Helium-Neon Dimers <sup>4</sup>He<sup>20</sup>Ne and <sup>4</sup>He<sup>22</sup>Ne.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2025

Same author

Driven generalized quantum Rayleigh-van der Pol oscillators: Phase localization and spectral response.

Physical review. E·2024

Same author

Temperature-Dependent Contact of Weakly Interacting Single-Component Fermi Gases and Loss Rate of Degenerate Polar Molecules.

Physical review letters·2023

Same author

Nonexponential Tunneling due to Mean-Field-Induced Swallowtails.

Physical review letters·2020

Same author

Density Oscillations Induced by Individual Ultracold Two-Body Collisions.

Physical review letters·2019

Same author

Path-Integral Monte Carlo Determination of the Fourth-Order Virial Coefficient for a Unitary Two-Component Fermi Gas with Zero-Range Interactions.

Physical review letters·2016

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 18, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

Published on: December 4, 2017

Scattering length instability in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates.

D C E Bortolotti¹, S Ronen, J L Bohn

¹JILA, NIST and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA.

Physical Review Letters

|December 13, 2006

Summary

A new instability in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates is predicted. A weak dipole moment can cause condensate collapse by creating a negative scattering length, accurately modeled by mean-field theory.

More Related Videos

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Published on: January 9, 2014

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Published on: March 30, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids

Published on: December 4, 2017

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Published on: January 9, 2014

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Published on: March 30, 2017

Area of Science:

Quantum physics
Condensed matter physics
Atomic physics

Background:

Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are quantum states of matter.
Dipolar particles possess a permanent dipole moment, influencing their interactions.
Understanding BEC stability is crucial for quantum technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

To predict and investigate a novel instability in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates.
To explore the role of dipole moments in BEC collapse.
To validate theoretical models with numerical simulations.

Main Methods:

Theoretical prediction of a new instability.
Mean-field theory for Bose-Einstein condensates.
Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) methods for exact energy calculations.

Main Results:

A weak dipole moment can induce condensate collapse via a large, negative two-body scattering length.
Mean-field solutions are validated by diffusion Monte Carlo methods.
Accurate energy reproduction requires accounting for s-wave scattering length variation with dipole strength.

Conclusions:

Dipolar interactions introduce unique instability mechanisms in BECs.
Mean-field theory provides an accurate description of dipolar BECs when interaction variations are included.
This work advances the understanding of quantum gas stability and theoretical modeling.