We improve the efficiency of sawtooth-wave adiabatic-passage cooling for strontium atoms in three dimensions and combine it with standard narrow-line laser cooling. With this technique, we create strontium magneto-optical traps with $6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ bosonic
88Sr ($1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ fermionic
87Sr) atoms at phase-space densities of $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ ($1.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$). Our method is simple to implement and is faster and more robust than traditional cooling methods.
Laser cooling has become a powerful tool for producing quantum gases and has enabled the study of a wide range of phenomena only accessible at ultracold temperatures. This thesis will describe the implementation and characterization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for laser cooling strontium to microkelvin temperatures operating on the narrow 689nm transition (the “red” MOT). The red MOT is the second cooling stage required to create quantum degenerate gases of strontium, bridging the temperatures and densities produced by the first cooling stage (the 461 nm “blue” MOT) and the shallow conservative traps for evaporation to quantum degeneracy.