Production of Sodium Bose--Einstein condensates in an optical dimple trap

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to produce sodium Bose--Einstein condensates using a combined optical dipole trap with a dimple, enabling quantum degeneracy with modest resources.

Contribution

It introduces a new protocol for creating sodium BECs in a compact setup using a combined optical trap with a dimple, improving efficiency and resource requirements.

Findings

Successful production of sodium BEC in a compact setup

Efficient loading and cooling stages achieved

Quantum degeneracy reached with modest initial atoms and laser power

Abstract

We report on the realization of a sodium Bose--Einstein condensate (BEC) in a combined red-detuned optical dipole trap, formed by two beams crossing in a horizontal plane and a third, tightly focused dimple trap propagating vertically. We produce a BEC in three main steps: loading of the crossed dipole trap from laser-cooled atoms, an intermediate evaporative cooling stage which results in efficient loading of the auxiliary dimple trap, and a final evaporative cooling stage in the dimple trap. Our protocol is implemented in a compact setup and allows us to reach quantum degeneracy even with relatively modest initial atom numbers and available laser power.