Bose-Einstein Condensation in an Ultracold Gas

The following article is a written version of the Richtmyer award lecture given to the annual meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in January, 1996. I discuss the basic idea of Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas and how it has been produced and examined. To cool the atom to the point of condensation we use laser cooling and trapping, followed by magnetic trapping and evaporative cooling. These techniques are explained, along with the signatures of Bose-Einstein condensation that we observe. I also discuss how very similar laser cooling and trapping techniques have been incorporated into undergraduate laboratory experiments.