High-performance Apparatus for Bose-Einstein Condensation of Rubidium Atoms
Abstract
We have developed a high-performance apparatus for producing Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of ^87Rb atoms. It features a Zeeman slower that delivers up to 10^11 slowed atoms per second into the main UHV (< 10-11 torr) chamber, where the atoms are collected in a bright magneto-optical trap (MOT) and then transferred into a cloverleaf magnetic trap for rf-induced evaporative cooling. For the slowing and trapping light, we built a stable diode-laser-based optical system, including a high-power tapered amplifier. With this apparatus we can collect 10^10 atoms in the MOT within 2 s and create BECs containing 4 x 10^6 atoms in the F = 1, mF = -1 ground state every 25 s. This is, to our knowledge, the largest number ever achieved for the Rb condensates and about one order of magnitude larger than obtained with conventional double-MOT loading schemes.
- Publication:
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APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002APS..DMP.D6025T