Optimized Bose-Einstein-condensate production in a dipole trap based on a 1070-nm multifrequency laser: Influence of enhanced two-body loss on the evaporation process

Abstract

We present an optimized strategy for the production of tightly confined Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of ${}^{87}$Rb in a crossed dipole trap with direct loading from a magneto-optical trap. The dipole trap is created with light of a multifrequency fiber laser with a center wavelength of 1070 nm. Evaporative cooling is performed by ramping down the laser power only. A comparison of the resulting atom number in an almost pure BEC to the initial atom number and the value for the gain in phase space density per atom lost confirm that this straightforward strategy is very efficient. We observe that the temporal characteristics of evaporation sequence are strongly influenced by power-dependent two-body losses resulting from enhanced optical pumping to the higher-energy hyperfine state. We characterize these losses and compare them to results obtained with a single-frequency laser at 1030 nm.