Collisionless and Hydrodynamic Excitations of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Collective excitations of a dilute Bose gas were probed above and below the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature. The temperature dependencies of the frequency and damping rates of condensate oscillations indicate significant interactions between the condensate and the thermal cloud. Hydrodynamic oscillations of the thermal cloud analogous to first sound were observed. An out-of-phase dipolar oscillation of the thermal cloud and the condensate was also studied, analogous to second sound. The excitations were observed in situ using nondestructive imaging techniques.