A compact dual-species setup towards ultracold ⁶Li⁸⁷Rb molecules

Ultracold polar molecules possess inherent strong electric dipole moments and a rich internal structure, making them ideal platforms for implementing novel quantum information schemes, performing precision quantum metrology, and exploring exotic quantum phases such as dipolar BEC-BCS crossover in molecular Fermi gases. However, such experiments require extensive control over two or more species of atoms and their interactions, significantly scaling up the complexity and construction period of the experiment setup. Here we report a miniaturized dual-species quantum gas experiment setup for creating ultracold fermionic ⁶Li-⁸⁷Rb molecules as an ideal starting point for our next-generation ultracold molecules experiments. Our compact vacuum setup, with dimensions of 55×65×70 cm³, significantly lowers the complexity and shortens the construction time. We combined a short-distance Zeeman slower with a 2-dimensional magneto-optical trap for lithium-6 atoms, boosting the loading rate of trapped lithium gas to as high as 7×10⁹ atoms/s at a moderate oven temperature of 370 °C, which is a 44-fold increase compared to plain loading without Zeeman slowing. Meanwhile, the flux of rubidium-87 atoms also reaches a high value of 2×10⁹ atoms/s. Our work lays a solid foundation for the rapid production of a double-degenerate Li-Rb atomic mixture and offers a scalable and efficient platform for producing ultracold molecules, paving the way for our future exploration of dipolar BEC-BCS crossover and p-wave superfluidity in two dimensions.