Blue repulsive potential for dysprosium Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

Short-wavelength repulsive potentials for quantum gases allow one to realize new systems and to study new phenomena. Here we report the realization of repulsive optical potentials for dysprosium atoms in the blue region of the spectrum, at wavelengths close to 400 nm. We employ a spectrally filtered diode laser system to measure both scalar and tensorial components of the polarizability of dysprosium, which we find in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. We demonstrate the implementation of potential strengths appropriate to manipulate Bose-Einstein condensates, with scattering-limited lifetimes exceeding 1 s. This type of optical potential opens interesting directions for the study of dipolar superfluids and supersolids.