rf-induced magnetic degeneracy and dipolar relaxation in a chromium Bose-Einstein Condensate

We create Bose-Einstein Condensates of ⁵²Cr atoms in an optical trap. Intense radio-frequency fields are used to induce degeneracy between the Zeeman sub-states of the ground state atoms in the BEC despite an ambient static field of 100 mG. We demonstrate this effect by analyzing atom trajectories under the influence of dressed magnetic potentials. We investigate the problem of adiabaticity in the dressing process. In a further set of experiments, we transfer the atoms from the absolute ground state into the excited Zeeman sub-state and study the dipolar relaxation in ultra-cold gases of chromium atoms above and below the condensation threshold. We observe a minimum in the dipolar relaxation rate for a finite magnetic field value which enables a new determination of the scattering length.