Bose-Einstein condensation in a mm-scale Ioffe-Pritchard trap

TL;DR

This paper reports the development of a compact Ioffe-Pritchard trap capable of producing Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms, with versatile trap geometries enabled by high axial curvature and novel fabrication techniques.

Contribution

Introduction of a mm-scale Ioffe-Pritchard trap with high axial curvature using a new fabrication method compatible with ultra-high vacuum.

Findings

Successfully produced BECs of 10^6 Rb-87 atoms.

Demonstrated versatile trap geometries and tilt angles.

Validated the trap's suitability for various experimental configurations.

Abstract

We have constructed a mm-scale Ioffe-Pritchard trap capable of providing axial field curvature of 7800 G/cm$^2$ with only 10.5 Amperes of driving current. Our novel fabrication method involving electromagnetic coils formed of hard anodized aluminum strips is compatible with ultra-high vacuum conditions, as demonstrated by our using the trap to produce Bose-Einstein condensates of 10$^6$ $^87$Rb atoms. The strong axial curvature gives access to a number of experimentally interesting configurations such as tightly confining prolate, nearly isotropic, and oblate spheroidal traps, as well as traps with variable tilt angles with respect to the nominal axial direction.