Bose-Einstein condensation of 88Sr through sympathetic cooling with 87Sr

Description
Abstract

We report Bose-Einstein condensation of Sr88, which has a small, negative s-wave scattering length (a88=−2a0). We overcome the poor evaporative cooling characteristics of this isotope by sympathetic cooling with Sr87 atoms. Sr87 is effective in this role despite the fact that it is a fermion because of the large ground-state degeneracy arising from a nuclear spin of I=9/2, which reduces the impact of Pauli blocking of collisions. We observe a limited number of atoms in the condensate (Nmax≈104) that is consistent with the value of a88 and the optical dipole trap parameters.

Description
Advisor
Degree
Type
Journal article
Keywords
Citation
Has part(s)
Forms part of
Published Version
Rights
Link to license
Citable link to this page