Towards 1D Bose Gases of Strontium with a 2D Optical Lattice

Development of a two-dimensional (2D) optical lattice to be used to create a 1D microtrap array for studies of 1D quantum gases is described. A 1064 nm fiber amplified laser system is used to create two orthogonal pairs of standing waves that together form a 2D lattice. By delivering 4W of power to each arm of the lattice and focusing the beams to a beam radius of ~300 microns at the location of the atoms, we can create a 2D lattice with a maximum trap depth around 70 photon recoils. This allows preparation of 1D atoms sample with a range of different average interaction energies thereby providing a rich yet simple system to study. Initial studies with our Rydberg molecule spectroscopy system will focus on probing the correlation function of 1D quantum gases with different interaction strengths.