Systematic optimization of laser cooling of dysprosium

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive method for optimizing laser cooling and trapping of dysprosium atoms, achieving high atom numbers and low temperatures suitable for quantum gas experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic optimization procedure for laser cooling of dysprosium, including Zeeman slower, 2D molasses, and MOT, enhancing atom number and temperature control.

Findings

Trapped up to 10^9 dysprosium atoms in 3 seconds.

Achieved atomic temperatures of 9 μK.

Established a foundation for evaporative cooling and quantum gas studies.

Abstract

We report on an apparatus for cooling and trapping of neutral dysprosium. We characterize and optimize the performance of our Zeeman slower and 2D molasses cooling of the atomic beam by means of Doppler spectroscopy on a 136 kHz broad transition at 626 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrate the characterization and optimization procedure for the loading phase of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) by increasing the effective laser linewidth by sideband modulation. After optimization of the MOT compression phase, we cool and trap up to $10^9$ atoms within 3 seconds in the MOT at temperatures of 9 {\mu}K and phase space densities of $1.7 \cdot 10^{-5}$, which constitutes an ideal starting point for loading the atoms into an optical dipole trap and for subsequent forced evaporative cooling.