Production of quantum degenerate mixtures of ytterbium and lithium with controllable inter-species overlap

TL;DR

This paper details the experimental methods for creating and controlling quantum degenerate mixtures of ytterbium and lithium atoms, enabling studies of mass-imbalanced quantum systems and molecule formation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel all-optical preparation method and a magnetic field gradient technique to control the spatial overlap of the mixture.

Findings

Successful creation of dual-species quantum degenerate mixture

Demonstration of magnetic field gradient to control species overlap

Enhanced potential for studying mass-imbalanced quantum phenomena

Abstract

Quantum degenerate mixtures of alkali and spin-singlet atoms form the starting point for studying few- and many-body physics of mass-imbalanced pairs as well as the production of paramagnetic polar molecules. We recently reported the achievement of dual-species quantum degeneracy of a mixture of lithium and ytterbium atoms. Here we present details of the key experimental steps for the all-optical preparation of these mixtures. Further we demonstrate the use of the magnetic field gradient tool to compensate for the differential gravitational sag of the two species and control their spatial overlap.