A 461 nm laser system for an ultracold strontium quantum gas experiment

Abstract

In recent years, ultra-cold atomic gases have emerged as a novel platform for the study of quantum many-body systems. Exploiting these gases, it is possible to synthesize quantum matter of highly controllable properties (interactions, dimensionality, potential landscape, etc.) in table-top experiments. In our group, we use them to explore experimentally collective phenomena originally studied in condensed-matter physics, such as superfluidity, supersolidity or magnetism, and to realize completely new types of many-body systems of potential use for modern quantum technology. A laser system for laser cooling strontium is developed in this project. An external cavity diode laser in Littrow configuration is built. An injection locking setup of a high-power diode laser is used to increase the optical power available, reaching a total amount of power of 140 mW. A Doppler-free spectroscopy setup for a 461 nm transition is implemented in a heat pipe setup.