A new apparatus for a degenerate alkali-lanthanide mixture

We present a new platform for the creation of a degenerate mixture of erbium and lithium atoms. A dual-species oven generates co-propagating atomic beams. The species are magneto-optically trapped in an all-titanium chamber and optically transported to a nano-textured glass cell. The gas is imaged via a microscope objective (NA = 0.6). This alkali-lanthanide mixture offers exciting new possibilities, including long-range interactions via phonon exchange, mixed dimensional systems, collective spin physics, and few-body phenomena.