title: Strongly dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate of dysprosium.
abstract: We report the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of the most magnetic element, dysprosium. The Dy BEC is the first for an open f-shell lanthanide (rare-earth) element and is produced via forced evaporation in a crossed optical dipole trap loaded by an unusual, blue-detuned and spin-polarized narrowline magneto-optical trap. Nearly pure condensates of 1.5 × 10(4) (164)Dy atoms form below T = 30 nK. We observe that stable BEC formation depends on the relative angle of a small polarizing magnetic field to the axis of the oblate trap, a property of trapped condensates only expected in the strongly dipolar regime. This regime was heretofore only attainable in Cr BECs via a Feshbach resonance accessed at a high-magnetic field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Mingwu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Nathaniel Q
authors.initials: NQ
authors.lastname: Burdick
authors.forename: Seo Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Youn
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Lev