Rubidium Experiment 11/05/2011

*20 steps towards Bose Einstein Condensation*

Before BEC
1 Improve stability of the 2nd MOT slave
-Check temperature stabilization mechanics and electronics
2 Measure shutter switching times
3 Implement shutter switching times in experimental control

4 Improve imaging (the amount of light gathered looks far too little)
-choose right detuning
- shutter is always on?
-AOM switching behaviour correct?
5 Consider the optics and the imaging path for absorption imaging with the new camera
6 Implement absorption imaging 1 (beam perp lattice, no temperature measurement possible!)
7 Take vibrational ratchet data
-Temperature over HF driving, different driving frequencies
-Look at the diffusion coefficient: different HF lattice times ~1-10ms, plot
width as function of driving, different dirving frequencies
-Produce big sines and few many point (>300 images, various phases) sines
with HF driving
8 Take DC load data

-Measure MOT transport for different frequency ramps for different times

-Plot width of the cloud as function of force applied for different times
-Produce sines vs. Constant force

Towards BEC
9 Build in the water distribution system
10 Build in the new MOT coils
11 Build in the QUIC coil
12 Buy and consider things needed for evaporation
13 Build, implement and test RF antenna for evaporation
14 Implement spin polarization beam (enough AOMs?, enough AOM driver?)
-If not buy AOMs and build AOM driver!
15 Start magnetically trapping
-Measure lifetime of quadrupole trap
-Measure transfer efficiency
16 Start using QUIC coil
-Measure lifetime of QUIC trap
17 Implement absorption imaging 2 perp gravity
18 Measure temperature of sample
19 Start evaporation
20 BEC