An Optically Plugged Quadrupole Trap for Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper reports the creation of large sodium Bose-Einstein condensates using an optically plugged quadrupole trap, demonstrating significant improvements in atom number and potential for ring-shaped condensates.

Contribution

The study introduces an optically plugged quadrupole trap that significantly enhances condensate size and transfer efficiency compared to previous magnetic traps.

Findings

Produced condensates of up to 3×10^7 atoms

Achieved a 60-fold increase over previous methods

Transferred up to 9×10^6 atoms into an optical trap

Abstract

We created sodium Bose-Einstein condensates in an optically plugged quadrupole magnetic trap (OPT). A focused, 532nm laser beam repelled atoms from the coil center where Majorana loss is significant. We produced condensates of up to $3 \times 10^7$ atoms, a factor of 60 improvement over previous work [1], a number comparable to the best all-magnetic traps, and transferred up to $9 \times 10^6$ atoms into a purely optical trap. Due to the tight axial confinement and azimuthal symmetry of the quadrupole coils, the OPT shows promise for creating Bose-Einstein condensates in a ring geometry.