Bose-Einstein Condensation of an Ytterbium Isotope

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate using the bosonic isotope 170Yb, demonstrating cooling, trapping, and characterization of the condensate with over 10^4 atoms.

Contribution

First observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in the ytterbium isotope 170Yb with detailed experimental procedures and characterization.

Findings

Condensate of approximately 10^4 atoms achieved.

Scattering length measured as 3.6(9) nm.

Over 10^6 atoms trapped and cooled.

Abstract

We report the observation of a Bose Einstein condensate in a bosonic isotope of ytterbium (170Yb). More than 10^6 atoms are trapped in a crossed optical dipole trap and cooled by evaporation. Condensates of approximately 10^4 atoms have been obtained. From an expansion of the condensate, we have extracted the scattering length a=3.6(9) nm.