Creation of an all-optical Bose-Einstein condensate

This thesis reports on the experimental setup of the initial stages of the two-species, 87Rb and 85Rb, bosonic quantum gas microscope. In particular on the initial cooling and trapping of 87Rb atoms, with the creation of a large all-optically cooled Bose-Einstein condensate as a proof of the temperatures and densities achieved. In most cold atoms experiments, the Bose-Einstein condensate is achieved by evaporating the atoms in a magnetic trap.;Due to the swallowness of magnetic traps, the evaporation sequence takes longer than in all-optical traps. One of the reasons for using all-optical traps is to have a high repetition rate.;After a historical introduction to the topics of atomic physics, ultracold atoms in optical lattices and quantum simulation, we provide a basic summary on atomic physics and laser cooling. It is followed by a description of the experimental setup. The following chapters detail the cooling and trapping process, culminating in the creation of an all-optical Bose-Einstein condensate. The final chapter offers an overview on the future stages of the two-species bosonic quantum gas microscope.;In this thesis we detail our cooling techniques, such as grey molasses and the evaporative cooling process. We achieve temperatures as low as 4μK in clouds of 3*109 atoms after grey molasses and a BEC of 1.8*106 atoms with a total sequence time under 5s. There is still room for improvement in our BEC creation process and we are confident that higher numbers can be achieved.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral-pg

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Strathclyde

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Ulibarrena, Andres

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Haller, Elmar
• Kuhr, Stefan

DOI

10.48730/mmen-me03

Identifier

T15757

Author Identifier

201681094

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:strathclyde:nc580m70f