Recently, we created the first atomic BEC in an essentially uniform potential of an optical box [1]. Compared to the traditional ultracold-atom setting of  a harmonic trap, this has opened new possibilities for closer connections with other many-body systems and the theories that rely on the translational symmetry of the system. I will discuss our recent experiments, including studies of the (Kibble-Zurek) dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking [2], the emergence of turbulence in a periodically  driven gas [3], and the collapse of a BEC with attractive interactions [4].

[1] A. L. Gaunt et al., PRL 110, 200406 (2013)

[2] N. Navon et al., Science 347, 167 (2015)

[3] N. Navon et al., Nature soon (2016)

[4] C. Eigen et al., arXiv:1609.00352