Fig. 2: Detection of the CW BEC.
a, b, Absorption images of the atomic cloud before and after condensation. The atoms are imaged after an 18-ms time-of-flight expansion. The scale bar denotes 1 mm. c, d, Optical density within the elongated rectangles marked by corners in a and b, averaged along y. Fitted profiles using a thermal-only distribution (green dashed line) or a bimodal distribution, consisting of a thermal (red line) and a Thomas–Fermi (blue line) component. The thermal-only fit fails to represent the condensed atoms in d (blue shaded area). e, f, Corner-marked square regions of absorption images a and b minus thermal parts of the bimodal fits, showing the CW BEC.
