Towards an erbium Bose-Einstein Condensate in an optical box potential

ORAL

Abstract

We report our progress towards producing a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of dipolar erbium atoms in an optical box potential. Our cooling protocol closely follows existing methods - a narrow line magneto-optical trap (MOT) is loaded using a Zeeman-slowed atomic beam, followed by transfer of atoms to an optical dipole trap and subsequent evaporation and transport to an all-glass cell with enhanced optical access. Here, the atoms will be confined in a quasi-2D optical box trap generated using a spatial light modulator which will readily allow modification of both the size and shape of the potential. In parallel, the experiment is being expanded to add potassium as a second atomic species which would open possibilities to research impurity physics, Bose polarons and open quantum systems more generally.

*This work was supported by EPSRC Grant No. EP/P009565/1, the John Fell Oxford University Press (OUP) Research Fund and the Royal Society. M.K. acknowledges funding from Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

–

Presenters

  • Milan Krstajic

    • University of Cambridge
    • Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom ; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE

Authors

  • Milan Krstajic

    • University of Cambridge
    • Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom ; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE

  • Péter Juhász

    • University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Lucas Hofer

    • University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford

  • Anna Marchant

    • University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford

  • Jiří Kučera

    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford

  • Robert Smith

    • University of Oxford
    • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom