A compact single-chamber apparatus for Bose-Einstein condensation of
$^87$Rb
arXiv (2012)
Authors:
Igor Gotlibovych, Tobias F Schmidutz, Stuart Moulder, Robert LD Campbell, Naaman Tammuz, Richard J Fletcher, Alexander L Gaunt, Scott Beattie, Robert P Smith, Zoran Hadzibabic
Abstract:
We describe a simple and compact single-chamber apparatus for robust
production of $^87$Rb Bose-Einstein condensates. The apparatus is built from
off-the-shelf components and allows production of quasi-pure condensates of >
$3\times 10^5$ atoms in < 30 s. This is achieved using a hybrid trap created by
a quadrupole magnetic field and a single red-detuned laser beam [Y.-J. Lin et
al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 063631 (2009)]. In the same apparatus we also achieve
condensation in an optically plugged quadrupole trap [K. B. Davis et al., Phys.
Rev. Lett. 75, 3969 (1995)] and show that as little as 70 mW of plug-laser
power is sufficient for condensation, making it viable to pursue this approach
using inexpensive diode lasers. While very compact, our apparatus features
sufficient optical access for complex experiments, and we have recently used it
to demonstrate condensation in a uniform optical-box potential [A. Gaunt et
al., arXiv:1212.4453 (2012)].
