Large-area $^{87}$Rb Bose-Einstein condensate in a clipped-Gaussian optical dipole trap

Abstract

We demonstrate a production of large-area $^{87}$Rb Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) using a non-Gaussian optical dipole trap (ODT). The ODT is formed by focusing a symmetrically truncated Gaussian laser beam and it is shown that the beam clipping causes the trap geometry elongated and flattened along the beam axis direction. In the clipped-Gaussian ODT, an elongated, highly oblate BEC of $^{87}$Rb is generated with length and width of approximately $470~\mu\textrm{m}$ and $130~\mu\textrm{m}$, respectively, where the condensate healing length is estimated to be $\xi\approx 0.25~\mu\textrm{m}$ at the trap center. The ODT is characterized to have a quartic trapping potential along the beam axis and the atom density of the condensate is uniform within 10% over $1000\xi$ in the central region. Finally, we discuss the prospect of conducting vortex shedding experiments using the elongated condensate.