Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 17: Kalte Atome: Fallen und Kühlung
Q 17.9: Talk
Monday, March 12, 2012, 18:30–18:45, V7.02
Realization of a magneto-optical trap for erbium atoms — •Jens Ulitzsch, Henning Brammer, Riad Bourouis, and Martin Weitz — Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Bonn, Wegelerstraße 8, 53115 Bonn
The erbium atom has a 4f12 6s2 3H6 electronic ground state with a large angular momentum of L = 5. So far, most atomic quantum gases have been realized with a spericall symmetric (L=0) s-ground state configuration, for which in far detuned laser fields with detuning above the upper state fine structure splitting the trapping potential is determined by the scalar electronic polarizability. For an erbium quantum gas with its L > 0 ground state, the trapping potential also for far detuned dissipation-less trapping laser fields becomes dependent on the internal atomic state (i.e. spin).
We report on progress in an ongoing experiment directed at the generation of an atomic erbium Bose-Einstein condensate by evaporative cooling in a far detuned optical dipole trap. In the present stage of the experiment, a magneto optical trap (MOT) for this rare earth metal atom has been realized, loaded from a Zeeman-slowed atomic beam. The experiment uses a single laser frequency tuned to the red of the 400,91nm cooling transition. No repumping radiation is required for the MOT operation, despite the complex energy level structure of the erbium atom.