All-Optical Production of Chromium Bose-Einstein Condensates

Q. Beaufils (1) , R. Chicireanu (1) , T. Zanon (1) , B. Laburthe-Tolra (1) , E. Marechal (1) , L. Vernac (1) , J. -C. Keller (1) , O. Gorceix (1)

1 LPL - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers

We report on the production of ^52Cr Bose Einstein Condensates (BEC) with an all-optical method. We first load 5.10^6 metastable chromium atoms in a 1D far-off-resonance optical trap (FORT) from a Magneto Optical Trap (MOT), by combining the use of Radio Frequency (RF) frequency sweeps and depumping towards the ^5S_2 state. The atoms are then pumped to the absolute ground state, and transferred into a crossed FORT in which they are evaporated. The fast loading of the 1D FORT (35 ms 1/e time), and the use of relatively fast evaporative ramps allow us to obtain in 20 s about 15000 atoms in an almost pure condensate.

Mots clés: Condensat de Bose-Einstein; Atomes Ultrafroids; Interactions dipolaires; chrome; refroidissement évaporatif

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Q. Beaufils, R. Chicireanu, T. Zanon, B. Laburthe-Tolra, E. Marechal, et al.. All-Optical Production of Chromium Bose-Einstein Condensates. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2008, 77 (6), pp.061601. ⟨hal-00200700⟩