Related papers: Polarization Enhanced Deep Optical Dipole Trapping…
We demonstrate a compact magneto-optical trap (MOT) of alkaline-earth atoms using a nanofabricated diffraction grating chip. A single input laser beam, resonant with the broad $^1$S$_0\,\rightarrow \,^1$P$_1$ transition of strontium, forms…
Reaching high densities is a key step towards cold-collision experiments with polyatomic molecules. We use a cryofuge to load up to 2$\times10^7$ CH$_3$F molecules into a box-like electric trap, achieving densities up to 10$^7$/cm$^3$ at…
We present a rapid evaporative cooling scheme for a strongly interacting $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ Fermi gas in an optical dipole trap. The method uses a magnetic-field-gradient--induced tilt of the trapping potential to accelerate cooling in the…
We present studies on the modifications in temperature, number density and phase-space density when a laser cooled atom cloud from the optical molasses is trapped in a quadrupole magnetic trap. Theoretically it is shown that for a given…
We demonstrate efficient transfer of ultracold molecules into a deeply bound rovibrational level of the singlet ground state potential in the presence of an optical lattice. The overall molecule creation efficiency is 25%, and the transfer…
Doubly dipolar molecules exhibit complex internal spin-dynamics when electric and magnetic fields are both applied. Near magnetic trap minima, these spin-dynamics lead to enhancements in Majorana spin-flip transitions by many orders of…
We report on the realization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for europium atoms using a narrow-line cooling transition with a natural linewidth of 97 kHz. Our starting point is continuous capturing and cooling of optically pumped metastable…
We report on an efficient production scheme for a large quantum degenerate sample of fermionic lithium. The approach is based on our previous work on narrow-line $ 2S_{1/2}\rightarrow 3P_{3/2} $ laser cooling resulting in a high phase-space…
Optomechanical cooling of levitated dielectric particles represents a promising new approach in the quest to cool small mechanical resonators towards their quantum ground state. We investigate two-mode cooling of levitated nanospheres in a…
First laser cooling and trapping of the heavy alkaline earth element barium has been achieved based on the strong 6s$^2$ $^1$S$_0$ - 6s6p $^1$P$_1$ transition for the main cooling. Due to the large branching into metastable D-states several…
In optical dipole traps, the excited rotational states of a molecule may experience a very different light shift than the ground state. For particles with two polarizability components (parallel and perpendicular), such as linear $^1\Sigma$…
Helium nanodroplets doped with polar molecules are studied by electrostatic deflection. This broadly applicable method allows even polyatomic molecules to attain sub-Kelvin temperatures and nearly full orientation in the field. The…
We demonstrate the ability to load, cool and detect singly-charged calcium ions in a surface electrode trap using only visible and infrared lasers for the trapped-ion control. As opposed to the standard methods of cooling using…
Laser cooling to sub-Doppler temperatures by optical molasses is thought to be inhibited in atoms with unresolved, near-degenerate hyperfine structure in the excited state. We demonstrate that such cooling is possible in one to three…
We improve the efficiency of sawtooth-wave-adiabatic-passage (SWAP) cooling for strontium atoms in three dimensions and combine it with standard narrow-line laser cooling. With this technique, we create strontium magneto-optical traps with…
Calcium monofluoride (CaF) is magnetically slowed and trapped using optical pumping. Starting from a collisionally cooled slow beam, CaF with an initial velocity of ~ 30 m/s is slowed via magnetic forces as it enters a 800 mK deep magnetic…
We present a robust continuous optical loading scheme for a Ioffe-Pritchard (IP) type magnetic trap. Atoms are cooled and trapped in a modified magneto-optical trap (MOT) consisting of a conventional 2D-MOT in radial direction and an axial…
We report on a study exploring the design of nanoparticles that can enhance their laser refrigeration efficiency for applications in levitated optomechanics. In particular, we developed lanthanide-doped nanocrystals with an inert shell…
Ultracold polar molecules are promising for quantum information processing and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. Laser cooling to ultracold temperatures is an established technique for trapped diatomic and triatomic molecules.…
We discuss the cooling efficiency of ultracold Fermi-Bose mixtures in species-selective traps using a thermodynamical approach. The dynamics of evaporative cooling trajectories is analyzed in the specific case of bichromatic optical dipole…