We describe the operation and performance of an ultracold strontium apparatus that is capable of generating quantum degenerate gases. The experiment has produced Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of 84Sr and 86Sr as well as degenerate Fermi gases (DFGs) of 87Sr with a reduced temperature of T/TF = 0.2 at a Fermi temperature of TF = 55 nK. Straightforward modifications could be made to allow for isotopic mixtures and BECs of the fourth stable isotope, 88Sr. We also report on a technique to improve the continuous loading of a magnetic trap by adding a laser tuned to the 3P1 - 3S1 transition. The method increases atom number in the magnetic trap and subsequent cooling stages by up to 65% for the bosonic isotopes and up to 30% for the fermionic isotope of strontium. We optimize this trap loading strategy with respect to laser detuning, intensity, and beam size. To understand the results, we develop a one-dimensional rate equation model of the system, which is in good agreement with the data. We discuss the use of other transitions in strontium for accelerated trap loading and the application of the technique to other alkaline-earth-like atoms. Finally, we also report on an updated investigation of photoassociation resonances relative to the 1S0 + 3P1 dissassociation limit in bosonic strontium. Multiple new resonances for 84Sr and 86Sr were measured out to binding energies of -5 GHz and several discrepancies in earlier measurements were resolved. These measurements will allow for the development of a more accurate mass-scaled model and a better theoretical understanding of the molecular potentials near the 3P1 state. We also measure the strength of the 84Sr 0u transitions in order to characterize their use as optical Feshbach resonances.
We describe the operation and performance of an ultracold strontium apparatus that is capable of generating quantum degenerate gases. The experiment has produced Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of 84Sr and 86Sr as well as degenerate Fermi gases (DFGs) of 87Sr with a reduced temperature of T/TF = 0.2 at a Fermi temperature of TF = 55 nK. Straightforward modifications could be made to allow for isotopic mixtures and BECs of the fourth stable isotope, 88Sr. We also report on a technique to improve the continuous loading of a magnetic trap by adding a laser tuned to the 3P1 - 3S1 transition. The method increases atom number in the magnetic trap and subsequent cooling stages by up to 65% for the bosonic isotopes and up to 30% for the fermionic isotope of strontium. We optimize this trap loading strategy with respect to laser detuning, intensity, and beam size. To understand the results, we develop a one-dimensional rate equation model of the system, which is in good agreement with the data. We discuss the use of other transitions in strontium for accelerated trap loading and the application of the technique to other alkaline-earth-like atoms. Finally, we also report on an updated investigation of photoassociation resonances relative to the 1S0 + 3P1 dissassociation limit in bosonic strontium. Multiple new resonances for 84Sr and 86Sr were measured out to binding energies of -5 GHz and several discrepancies in earlier measurements were resolved. These measurements will allow for the development of a more accurate mass-scaled model and a better theoretical understanding of the molecular potentials near the 3P1 state. We also measure the strength of the 84Sr 0u transitions in order to characterize their use as optical Feshbach resonances.
We describe the construction and characterization of a new apparatus that can produce degenerate quantum gases of strontium. The realization of degenerate gases is an important first step toward future studies of quantum magnetism. Three of the four stable isotopes of strontium have been cooled into the degenerate regime. The experiment can make nearly pure Bose-Einstein condensates containing approximately 1x10^4 atoms, for strontium-86, and approximately 4x10^5 atoms, for strontium-84. We have also created degenerate Fermi gases of strontium-87 with a reduced temperature, T/T_F of approximately 0.2. The apparatus will be able to produce Bose-Einstein condensates of strontium-88 with straightforward modifications. We also report the first experimental and theoretical results from the strontium project. We have developed a technique to accelerate the continuous loading of strontium atoms into a magnetic trap. By applying a laser addressing the 3P1 to 3S1 transition in our magneto-optical trap, the rate at which atoms populate the magnetically-trapped 3P2 state can be increased by up to 65%. Quantum degenerate gases of atoms in the metastable 3P0 and 3P2 states are a promising platform for quantum simulation of systems with long-range interactions. We have performed an initial numerical study of a method to transfer the ground state degenerate gases that we can currently produce into one of the metastable states via a three-photon transition. Numerical simulations of the Optical Bloch equations governing the three-photon transition indicate that >90% of a ground state degenerate gas can be transferred into a metastable state.
Degenerate quantum gases of alkaline-earth-like elements open new opportunities in research areas ranging from molecular physics to the study of strongly correlated systems. These experiments exploit the rich electronic structure of these elements, which is markedly different from the one of other species for which quantum degeneracy has been attained. Specifically, alkaline-earth-like atoms, such as strontium, feature metastable triplet states, narrow intercombination lines, and a non-magnetic, closed-shell ground state. This review covers the creation of quantum degenerate gases of strontium and the first experiments performed with this new system. It focuses on laser-cooling and evaporation schemes, which enable the creation of Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases of all strontium isotopes, and shows how they are used for the investigation of optical Feshbach resonances, the study of degenerate gases loaded into an optical lattice, as well as the coherent creation of Sr_2 molecules.
This thesis describes trapping and evaporative cooling of ultracold 87Sr and 88Sr mixtures in an optical dipole trap to produce the first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 88Sr. Furthermore, this work presents thermalization studies that characterize the scattering properties of these ultracold strontium samples. Such ultracold atomic gases have become an important area of research because of their potential for improving optical frequency standards and for realizing quantum computation using neutral atoms. A BEC of 88Sr is particularly interesting because the small value of its background s-wave scattering length may enable the use of optical Feshbach resonances to create two-dimensional solitons. However, the small scattering length for 88Sr also hinders efficient evaporative cooling in the optical dipole trap, a necessary step to producing a BEC. Experiments with other ultracold gases have successfully overcome this hurdle by mixing in a second atomic species which, by introducing stronger interactions with the weakly interacting species, enables evaporation to colder temperatures via sympathetic cooling. For this work, we use 87Sr to sympathetically cool 88Sr during forced evaporation to quantum degeneracy.\nPrevious experiments in the Killian Lab characterized 88Sr in detail. Here, I emphasize the new or improved aspects that have allowed trapping and cooling of the mixtures of 87Sr and 88 Sr: trapping of 87Sr by itself, spectroscopic measurements of all the stable strontium isotopes to guide the trapping of isotopic mixtures, imaging of both 87Sr and 88Sr, and the various trade-offs necessary to simultaneously trap 87Sr and 88Sr. Finally, I discuss how the thermalization studies of the scattering properties of the isotopes guide the forced evaporation of mixed isotope samples. These efforts result in the production of the BEC of 88Sr, but they also point the way to future studies of fermionic quantum degeneracy in 87Sr and to the rich physics of mixed species ultracold atomic systems.
This thesis presents studies of quantum degenerate atomic gases of fermionic 6Li and bosonic 7Li. Degeneracy is reached by evaporative cooling of 7Li in a strongly confining magnetic trap. Since at low temperatures direct evaporative cooling is not possible for a polarized fermionic gas, 6Li is sympathetically cooled by thermal contact with 7Li. In a first series of experiments both isotopes are trapped in their low-field seeking higher hyperfine states. A Fermi degeneracy of is achieved for 105 fermions. For more than ~300 atoms, the 7Li condensate collapses, due to the attractive interatomic interaction in this state. This limits the degeneracy reached for both species. To overcome this limit, in a second series of experiments 7Li and 6Li atoms are transferred to their low field seeking lower hyperfine states, where the boson-boson interaction is repulsive but weak. The inter-isotope collisions are used to thermalize the mixture. A 7Li Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 104 atoms immersed in a Fermi sea is produced. The BEC is quasi-one-dimensional and the thermal fraction can be negligible. The measured degeneracies are . The temperature is measured using the bosonic thermal fraction, which vanishes at the lowest temperatures, limiting our measurement sensitivity. In a third series of experiments, the bosons are transferred into an optical trap and their internal state is changed to , the lowest energy state. A Feshbach resonance is detected and used to produce a BEC with tunable atomic interactions. When the effective interaction between atoms is tuned to be small and attractive, we observe the formation of a matter-wave bright soliton. Propagation of the soliton without spreading over a macroscopic distance of 1.1~mm is observed.
Ultracold mixture experiments hold the promise of providing new insights into many-body quantum systems as well as ultracold chemistry and few-body phenomena. The work presented in this thesis dealt with the construction of a new apparatus for the production and study of ultracold gases of fermionic lithium-6 and bosonic caesium-133. These isotopes offer a wide tunability in their interaction strength, both in inter-species and intra-species collisions, through magnetic Feshbach resonances. Additionally, the widely different resonance frequencies of lithium and caesium enables independent control of each of the species. With this apparatus, Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) containing 10^4 lithium Feshbach molecules are routinely produced. The cooling system for caesium has been developed in parallel and important steps towards producing ultracold caesium gases have been made. An optical dipole trap has been loaded with 2x10^6 caesium atoms and evaporative cooling towards quantum degeneracy can now be pursued. Laser, vacuum, magnetic and control systems have been developed for the implementation of this experiment. Light produced with this laser system was used to laser cool atoms, create conservative dipole traps as well as to provide means of imaging atomic clouds. Additionally, a system to produce strong magnetic fields of up to 1400 G has been established in order to exploit the wide tunability in the atomic interactions. Software that was developed for the computerised control system facilitated the coordination of all the components involved in the experimental sequence. Measurements and calculations that showcase the functionality of relevant parts of the setup are presented in this thesis. In this experiment, lithium and caesium atoms are obtained from a novel type of Zeeman slower and are loaded into a magneto-optical trap (MOT). The system is capable of doing this independently for each of the atomic species as well as sequentially. After the MOT has been loaded with atoms, they are transferred into a conservative far-off-resonance optical dipole trap. By adjusting the interactions between atoms and lowering the depth of the dipole trap, efficient evaporative cooling of lithium was carried out from which a molecular BEC was obtained. Time-of-flight measurements were used to characterise the condensate and study its expansion dynamics.
Two sets of studies are described in this thesis. In the first set, an atom interferometry technique was developed for the measurement of the fine structure constant using a BoseEinstein Condensate. In the second set, degenerate Fermi gases were prepared and their properties explored in a regime of strong interactions. We have developed an atom interferometer which is capable of measuring with high precision the “photon recoil frequency” (ωrec). ωrec corresponds to the kinetic energy of an atom recoiling due to absorption of a photon. ωrec can be used to determine the quantity h/matom and the fine structure constant, α. A preliminary measurement using a 23Na BoseEinstein Condensate yielded ωrec with a precision of 7 × 10−6 which deviated by 2 × 10−4 from the currently accepted value. Plausible upgrades to the apparatus should produce a precision of 10−9 which would bring within reach a measurement of h/matom and α in the 10−9 range. Such accuracy would be of considerable scientific and metrological import. A quantum degenerate gas of 6Li fermions was produced by sympathetic cooling with 23Na bosons in a two-species atom trapping apparatus. The cooling strategy was optimized to enable production of fermions with atom numbers up to 7 × 107 at half the Fermi temperature (TF ), or temperatures down to 0.05TF ∼ 100 nK with 3× 107 atoms. We can also produce degenerate Bose-Fermi mixtures with several million atoms in each species. We studied the behavior of mixtures of fermi gases in regimes of strong interactions near “Feshbach” resonances. A study of system stability enabled the experimental observation of two such Feshbach resonances. We carried out a theoretical study to interpret the observation (by many experimental groups) of hydrodynamic behavior of fermi gases during expansion out of an atom trap in a strongly-interacting regime. The study concluded that this behavior was not a qualitative signature of fermionic superfluidity and could arise from classical collisions. Finally, radio-frequency (RF) spectroscopy was used to probe interaction in 6Li. We demonstrated the absence of mean field “clock” shifts of RF transitions in a two-(spin)state fermion system. Using a three-state system, we measured the interaction strength between different spin states. The measurements near Feshbach resonances indicate a saturation of the interaction strength at a large negative value. This result is of relevance in the continuing quest for fermionic superfluidity in atomic gases. Thesis Supervisor: David E. Pritchard Title: Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics Thesis Supervisor: Wolfgang Ketterle Title: John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics