Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 10: Quantum Gases: Bosons II

Q 10.1: Talk

Monday, March 8, 2010, 16:30–16:45, E 001

Towards an all-optical ⁸⁷Rb BEC for atom interferometry — •Maic Zaiser, Jonas Hartwig, Dennis Schlippert, Vyacheslav Lebedev, and Ernst Maria Rasel — Leibniz Universität Hannover - Institut für Quantenoptik;

We present studies of loading and evaporative cooling of pre-cooled ⁸⁷Rb atoms in a crossed optical dipole trap (ODT) formed by a Thulium-doped fiber laser at 2 µm wavelength and 50 W output power. The atomic source for loading the ODT consists of a two-stage design, where a three dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT) is loaded by a 2D MOT. With this setup, we reach very quick loading (less than 500 ms) with high initial atom numbers and phase space densities in the ODT, a prerequisite for successful evaporative cooling to BEC with high atom numbers.

This work is motivated by the ultra-low temperatures feasible in BEC, thus potentially improving the accuracy of matter wave interferometers for precision measurements, such as e.g. a quantum test of the equivalence principle. Optical dipole traps make a fast production of BEC possible allowing for a high repetition rate in an interferometer. Additionally, dipole traps are able to trap all m_F-substates, especially m_F=0, being insensitive to magnetic fields in first order.