Erbium quantum gas microscope

Abstract

Quantum gas microscopy of dipolar atoms is a promising opportunity to expand upon previous quantum simulations of neutral atoms in optical lattices. Erbium atoms interact via the long-range magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, which leads to a variety of new many-body effects and strongly correlated phases that are currently unexplored in microscopes with only short-range interactions. In this thesis I will detail progress toward the construction of an erbium quantum gas microscope as well as the techniques we implemented to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of $8\times10^4$ atoms in under a second. These include the installation of a dual-stage magneto-optical trap, a stroboscopic optical dipole trap, as well as a tunable crossed optical dipole trap that allows for efficient evaporation of both bosonic and fermionic isotopes. I will also discuss the frequency stabilization systems we have implemented to produce laser linewidths of less than $1$ kHz for near-resonant laser cooling on narrow transitions and a custom, high NA reflective objective to be used as part of a high resolution imaging system. Finally, I will discuss the noise properties of charge-coupled devices and the photon counting techniques that are needed for having high fidelities while using fast imaging schemes.