Detachable 2D MOT Platform as a Cesium Source Towards the Construction of a Quantum Simulator Involving Cesium-Lithium Mixtures

In our efforts to construct a Cesium-Lithium (Cs-Li) Bose-Fermi mixture apparatus for quantum simulation experiments, we have constructed a compact 2D magneto-optical trap (MOT) platform which acts as a continuous source of cold Cs atoms. This design requires only one laser output and contains all the optics necessary to split the beam 5 ways into the horizontal and vertical directions with the correct polarizations. This platform is moreover detachable, thus facilitating easier attachment onto the Cs-Li mixture chamber, however, it is currently connected to a test chamber in which a 3D Cs MOT is first loaded. We subsequently increase the detuning and magnetic field gradient to produce a compressed MOT (CMOT), before increasing the detuning even further and removing the magnetic field to generate an optical molasses. After that we load the Cs atoms into an optical lattice and further cool them via a degenerate Raman Sideband Cooling (DRSC). Time-of-flight (TOF) absorption images are utilized to calculate parameters including the temperature, atom number, and density.