An apparatus for a quantum-degenerate mixture of Er and Li atoms

We present progress towards the creation of a quantum-degenerate mixture of erbium and lithium atoms. The species are slowed and trapped simultaneously, and the sample is brought to degeneracy inside a nano-textured glass cell. The gas is imaged via a microscope objective (NA = 0.6). This alkali-lanthanide mixture offers exciting new possibilities, including new forms of long-range interactions via phonon exchange, mixed dimensional systems, collective spin physics, topological quantum matter, and few-body phenomena.