Hannover 2013 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 42: Ultra-cold atoms, ions and BEC V (with A)

Q 42.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 14:00–14:30, B 302

Dipolar Physics with Ultracold Atomic Magnets — •Ferlaino Francesca — Institut für Experimentalphysik Universität Innsbruck Technikerstraße 25 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

We report on the production of the first Bose-Einstein condensate of erbium [1]. Erbium is a very special multi-valence-electron atom, belonging to the lanthanide series. It possesses a strongly magnetic dipolar character, a rich energy level diagram, and various isotopes, among which one has a fermionic nature. Despite the complex atomic properties of such unconventional species, we find a surprisingly simple and efficient approach to reach quantum degeneracy by means of laser cooling on a narrow-line transition and standard evaporative cooling techniques. We observe favorable scattering properties of 168Er, resulting in remarkably high evaporation efficiency and in a large number of Feshbach resonances at very low magnetic field values. We recently employed a Feshbach resonance to magnetically associate Er_2 Feshbach molecules, which are of extreme dipolar character. Our observations make Er a dream system for ultracold quantum gas experiments.

[1] K. Aikawa, A. Frisch, M. Mark, S. Baier, A. Rietzler, R. Grimm, and F. Ferlaino, Bose-Einstein Condensation of Erbium, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 210401 (2012).