Laser Cooling to Quantum Degeneracy
Laser Cooling to Quantum Degeneracy
We report on Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas of strontium atoms, using laser cooling as the only cooling mechanism. The condensate is formed within a sample that is continuously Doppler cooled to below $1\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ on a narrow-linewidth transition. The critical phase-space density for condensation is reached in a …