Characterisation of three-body loss in ultracold ¹⁶⁶Er and the production of large dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates

Dipolar quantum droplets and supersolids are subject to intense research. However, studies are often limited by the achievable atom numbers and hindered by high three-body loss rates. In this talk, we present our study of density-dependent atom loss in an ultracold gas of ¹⁶⁶Er, identifying several previously unknown features which display a strong temperature dependence. We use the detailed knowledge of the loss landscape to produce dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates with more than 2×10⁵ atoms, pointing towards optimal strategies for the study of large-atom-number dipolar gases in the droplet and supersolid regimes.