Production of Sodium Bose--Einstein condensates in an optical dimple   trap
  We report on the realization of a sodium Bose--Einstein condensate (BEC) in a combined red-detuned optical dipole trap, formed by two beams crossing in a horizontal plane and a third, tightly focused dimple trap propagating vertically. We produce a BEC in three main steps: loading of the crossed dipole trap from laser-cooled atoms, an intermediate evaporative cooling stage which results in efficient loading of the auxiliary dimple trap, and a final evaporative cooling stage in the dimple trap. Our protocol is implemented in a compact setup and allows us to reach quantum degeneracy even with relatively modest initial atom numbers and available laser power. 
David Jacob (LKB - Lhomond), Emmanuel Mimoun (LKB - Lhomond), Luigi De   Sarlo (LKB - Lhomond), Martin Weitz, J. Dalibard (L...
physics.atom-ph cond-mat.quant-gas quant-ph