Fermionic Atoms in Ring Lattices

The DMD we’ve been using to create patterned optical potentials can certainly do more than just a simple ring. We’ve just had a first successful attempt at loading ultracold lithium atoms into multi-site ring traps. We probably shouldn’t call them lattices yet since the lattice spacing is still a couple of microns and we don’t expect there to be much tunneling of atoms between the potential wells. Once we have the beam projection system fully optimized and get the lattice spacing down closer to 1 micron, we’ll see about conducting the first experiments with ultracold atoms in ring lattices.