A New Apparatus for Li Rydberg Gases

We present progress towards a new apparatus for creating and studying novel quantum matter. Featuring large optical access, precisely controllable magnetic and electric fields, and sensitive charged particle detection, our apparatus is designed to enable flexible control over Li-6 quantum gases coupled to highly excited Rydberg states.   The tunable long- and short-range interactions available in this system via Rydberg dressing and magnetic Feshbach resonances will enable exploration of a broad range of strongly interacting many-body physics from quantum droplets to topological superfluids. In this poster, we present the design and simulation of a compact Zeeman slower for Li-6.  Using the decreasing field configuration of a Zeeman slower, we use the magnetic field from the magneto-optical trap (MOT) to effectively overlap the end of the Zeeman slower with the MOT center. This configuration reduces the solid angle of the atomic beam and increases the loading rate of the MOT. We also present design and simulation of electric fields and charged particle detection in our apparatus.  We implement a series of electrodes within the vacuum chamber to produce electric fields strong enough to ionize the Rydberg state atoms. The ionized electrons are then guided by the net electric field towards a micro-channel plate (MCP) detector which counts the Rydberg excitations. We model the resulting electric fields from the electrode geometry using software simulations in SIMION. The simulations allow us to predict the resulting electron trajectories for given electrode potential values and to focus the beam for optimal detection.