LiNaK : multi-species apparatus for the study of ultracold quantum degenerate mixtures

This thesis describes the construction of a versatile apparatus to study ultracold quantum mixtures capable of simultaneously cooling fermionic ⁶Li and ⁴⁰K, as well as the bosonic ⁴¹K. The main features of the experimental setup are presented, in particular the addition of a new species ²³Na, which has enabled the study of the Bose-Fermi mixture ²³Na-⁴⁰K. Three main experimental benchmarks are outlined: first, the production of a Bose-Einstein Condensate of ⁴¹K is discussed and an evaluation of its properties as a coolant are analysed. Secondly, the creation of a triply degenerate Bose-Fermi-Fermi gas of ⁴¹K-⁴⁰K-⁶Li is presented. Simultaneous observation of Pauli Pressure and Bose Condensation in the triply degenerate gas is reported. In addition, interspecies Feshbach resonances between ⁴¹K-⁴⁰K and ⁶Li-⁴¹K are observed, opening the way to the study of a strongly interacting isotopic Bose-Fermi mixture of ⁴¹K-⁴⁰K, which have similar mass. Thirdly, the creation of a quantum degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture of ²³Na-⁴⁰K is discussed and over thirty Feshbach resonances are identified. Finally, a degenerate ²³Na-⁴⁰K Bose-Fermi mixture opens the way to creating fermionic NaK ground state molecules, which are known to be chemically stable and have a larger permanent electric dipole than KRb. This thesis concludes with a review of the molecular properties of NaK and explores the possibilities of bringing Feshbach molecules of NaK into the singlet rovibrational ground state.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Santiago González, Ibon

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Martin W. Zwierlein.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77478

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/77478