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arXiv:1711.07378 · Physical Review A

Two-species five-beam magneto-optical trap for erbium and dysprosium

P. Ilzhöfer, Gianmaria Durastante, A. Patscheider, A. Trautmann, Manfred J. Mark, Francesca Ferlaino

Published Feb 26, 2018• 50 citations
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Abstract

We report on the first realization of a two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the highly magnetic erbium and dysprosium atoms. The MOT operates on an intercombination line for the respective species. Owing to the narrow-line character of such a cooling transition and the action of gravity, we demonstrate a trap geometry employing only five beams in the orthogonal configuration. We observe that the mixture is cooled and trapped very efficiently, with up to $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}$ Er atoms and ${10}^{9}$ Dy atoms at temperatures of about 10 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. Our results offer an ideal starting condition for the creation of a dipolar quantum mixture of highly magnetic atoms.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.97.023633

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We report on the first realization of a two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the highly magnetic erbium and dysprosium atoms. The MOT operates on an intercombination line for the respective species. Owing to the narrow-line character of such a cooling transition and the action of gravity, we demonstrate a trap geometry employing only five beams in the orthogonal configuration. We observe that the mixture is cooled and trapped very efficiently, with up to 5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1085\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi108 Er atoms and 109{10}^{9}109 Dy atoms at temperatures of about 10 \ensuremathμK\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}\ensuremathμK. Our results offer an ideal starting condition for the creation of a dipolar quantum mixture of highly magnetic atoms.
We report on the experimental realization of a robust and efficient magneto-optical trap for erbium atoms, based on a narrow cooling transition at 583 nm. We observe up to $N=2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}$ atoms at a temperature of about T=15T=15T=15 $\ensuremath{\mu}$K. This simple scheme provides better starting conditions for direct loading of dipole traps as compared to approaches based on the strong cooling transition alone, or on a combination of a strong and a narrow kHz transition. Our results on Er point to a general, simple, and efficient approach to laser cool samples of other lanthanide atoms (Ho, Dy, and Tm) for the production of quantum-degenerate samples.
We present our technique to create a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for dysprosium atoms using the narrow-line cooling transition at 626 nm to achieve suitable conditions for direct loading into an optical dipole trap. The MOT is loaded from an atomic beam via a Zeeman slower using the strongest atomic transition at 421 nm. With this combination of two cooling transitions we can trap up to 2.0·10(8) atoms at temperatures down to 6 μK. This cooling approach is simpler than present work with ultracold dysprosium and provides similar starting conditions for a transfer to an optical dipole trap.
We present our technique to create a magneto-optical trap for dysprosium atoms using the narrow-line cooling transition at 626 \,nm to achieve suitable conditions for direct loading into an optical dipole trap. The magneto-optical trap is loaded from an atomic beam via a Zeeman slower using the strongest atomic transition at 421 \,nm. With this combination of two cooling transitions we can trap up to 2.0⋅1082.0\cdot10^82.0⋅108 atoms at temperatures down to 6 μ\, \muμK. This cooling approach is simpler than present work with ultracold dysprosium and provides similar starting conditions for a transfer to an optical dipole trap.
Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) of highly magnetic lanthanides open the door to explorations of novel phases of strongly correlated matter such as lattice supersolids and quantum liquid crystals. We recently reported the first MOTs of the five high-abundance isotopes of the most magnetic atom, dysprosium. Described here are details of the experimental technique employed for repumper-free Dy MOTs containing up to half a billion atoms. Extensive characterization of the MOTs' properties---population, temperature, loading, metastable decay dynamics, and trap dynamics---is provided.
We describe an experimental setup for producing a large cold erbium (Er) sample in a narrow-line magneto-optical trap (MOT) in a simple and efficient way. We implement a pair of angled slowing beams with respect to the Zeeman slower axis, and further slow down atoms exiting from the Zeeman slower. The second-stage slowing beams enable the narrow-line MOT to trap atoms exiting from the Zeeman slower with higher velocity. This scheme is particularly useful when the Zeeman slower is at low optical power without the conventional transverse cooling between an oven and a Zeeman slower, in which case we significantly improve the loading efficiency into the MOT and are able to trap more than 108{10}^{8}108 atoms in the narrow-line MOT of 166Er^{166}\mathrm{Er}166Er. This work highlights our implementation, which greatly simplifies laser cooling and trapping of Er atoms and also should benefit other similar elements.