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# 2-D Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs); Berezinskii, Kosterlitz and Thouless (BKT) transition

A gas of atoms arranged in a single, flat layer ordinarily has 'thermal' behavior (left) in which the atoms act as individual entities. At lowered temperatures, the gas transforms into a 'quasi-condensate' (middle) consisting of little islands (schematically represented as colored blobs) that fluctuate in time; within each island atoms act as a single coordinated entity. At lower temperatures still, the gas enters the superfluid 'BKT' phase (right): the islands start to coalesce and atoms can flow frictionlessly within the merged area.

*Physics

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March 24, 2009

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