Zeeman Spectroscopy of Ultracold Thulium Atoms
Dipolar ultracold gases are of great interest for quantum simulation experiments. The first step of such a simulation is deep cooling of atoms in a pre specified internal state. The results of detailed studies of the formation of a spin polarized cloud of thulium atoms in a dipole trap are presented. We have calibrated the magnetic field by means of radio frequency Zeeman spectroscopy and measured the polarization of atoms in an optimized trap by the beam expansion method in a magnetic field gradient based on this calibration. We have obtained 1.1 x 106 atoms at a temperature of 27 mK with polarization <mF> 3.95 0.12.
Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics