Observation of interaction dynamics in finite-temperature Bose condensed atom clouds

We present measurements of finite-temperature atom clouds cooled below the transition temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation. We study the dynamics of the interface region between the Bose condensed and noncondensed components of the atom clouds, where the time-dependent density profile is highly sensitive to interactions between the two components. We observe directly the effects of repulsion from the condensate on the dynamics of noncondensed atoms. The measurements are compared to calculations based on Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mean-field theory. We infer a value for the spatial second-order correlation function for noncondensed atoms of g(0,NC)((2)) (r = 0) = 1.8 +/- 0.3.