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We achieved a 87Rb condensate of 4⨯105 atoms in the F=2, mF=2 state. We use a hybrid trap consisting of a single focused laser beam at 1064nm (dimple) in the horizontal direction and a quadrupole magnetic field. The dimple is vertically shifted with respect to the quadrupole center to avoid Majorana spin-flips. A first evaporation ramp with a microwave driving the (2,2) to (1,1) transition, is followed by an optical evaporation. |
Considering the hurdles of experiments with more than one atomic species, the temptation arises of rephrasing Arthur L. Schawlow: "Double-species Bose-Einstein condensates are condensates with one species too many". We think otherwise. Quantum mixtures allow the investigation of a wealth of genuinely quantum phenomena: mixed phases of superfluids and Mott insulators, impurities and polarons, chemistry at zero-temperature.