Mainz 2017 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 51: Ultracold Atoms I

Q 51.3: Talk

Thursday, March 9, 2017, 15:15–15:30, P 104

An atomic erbium Bose-Einstein condensate generated in a quasistatic optical dipole trap — •Daniel Babik, Jens Ulitzsch, Roberto Röll, and Martin Weitz — Institut für Angewandte Physik, Wegelerstraße 8, 53115 Bonn

We report on the generation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of erbium atoms in a quasistatic optical dipole trap in an experiment aimed at the study of physics of strong light-induced gauge fields. In alkali atoms with their S-ground state configuration in far detuned laser fields with detuning above the upper state fine structure splitting the trapping potential is determined by the scalar electronic polarizability. In contrast for an erbium quantum gas with its L > 0 electronic ground state, the trapping potential for inner-shell transitions also for far detuned dissipation-less trapping laser fields becomes dependent on the internal atomic state (i.e. spin). It is expected to reach much longer coherence times with erbium in spin-dependent optical lattice experiments and for far detuned Raman manipulation in comparison with alkali atoms.

In our experiment an erbium atomic beam is decelerated by a Zeeman slower using radiation tuned to the 400.91 nm transition of atomic erbium. Following work by the Innsbruck group, we trap erbium atoms in a narrow-line magneto-optical trap near 582.84 nm. Subsequently, we load erbium atoms into the quasistatic dipole potential generated by a focused beam near 10.6 μm wavelength provided by a CO2-laser and cool atoms evaporatively to quantum degeneracy. In the future, we plan to investigate topological states and strong synthetic magnetic fields with the rare earth atomic quantum gas.