Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an
ideal system to study basic physical phenomena. By choosing
erbium, the research team led by Francesca Ferlaino from the
Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck,
selected a very exotic element, which due to its particular
properties offers new and fascinating possibilities to
investigate fundamental questions in quantum physics. “Erbium is
comparatively heavy and has a strongly magnetic character. These
properties lead to an extreme dipolar behavior of quantum
systems,” says Ferlaino. Together with her research group, she
found a surprisingly simple way to deeply cool this complex
element by means of laser and evaporative cooling techniques. At
temperatures close to absolute zero, a cloud of about 70,000
erbium atoms forms a magnetic Bose-Einstein condensate. In a
condensate, the particles lose their individual properties and
synchronize their behavior. Francesca Ferlaino’s research team
at the University of Innsbruck is the f