Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-95). / In this thesis, I designed and built laser systems to cool, trap and image lithium-6 and potassium-40 atoms. I also constructed the vacuum system for the experiment and experimentally tested a new method to coat the chamber with a Titanium-Zirconium- Vanadium alloy that acts as a pump. The final apparatus will use a 2D Magneto- Optical Trap (MOT) as a source of cool potassium and a Zeeman slower as a source of cool lithium. The atoms will then be trapped and cooled together in a double-species 3D MOT. In the 3D MOT, we will perform photoassociation spectroscopy on the atoms to determine the Li-K molecular energies and collisional properties. Using this information, we can transfer weakly-bound Feshbach LiK molecules into their ground state. LiK has an electric dipole moment and will open the door to the study of novel materials with very long-range interactions. This new material might form a crystal, a superfluid with anisotropic order parameter or a supersolid. / by Sara L. Campbell. / S.B.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/61204 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Campbell, Sara L., S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Contributors | Martin W. Zwierlein., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 95 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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