All-optical Bose–Einstein condensation in a 1.06 μm dipole trap

We report the all-optical production of a 87 Rb Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a simple 1.06 μm dipole trap experiment. We load a single beam dipole trap directly from a magneto-optic trap (MOT). After evaporation in the single beam, a second crossed beam is used for compression. The intensity in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics communications 2011-06, Vol.284 (13), p.3288-3291
Main Authors: Arnold, K.J., Barrett, M.D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bose-Einstein condensate
Optical trapping
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Summary:We report the all-optical production of a 87 Rb Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a simple 1.06 μm dipole trap experiment. We load a single beam dipole trap directly from a magneto-optic trap (MOT). After evaporation in the single beam, a second crossed beam is used for compression. The intensity in both beams is then reduced for evaporation to BEC. We obtain a BEC with 3.5 × 10 4 atoms after 3 s of total evaporation time. We also give a detailed account of the thermal distribution in cross beam traps. This account highlights the possible difficulties in using shorter wavelength lasers to condense all optically. ► We discuss issues with thermalization in crossed short wavelength traps. ► We present a simple method for all-optical production of Bose-Einstein condensate.
ISSN:0030-4018
1873-0310
DOI:10.1016/j.optcom.2011.03.008