Sodium Bose-Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice

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The phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator has been observed in a ²³Na Bose-Einstein condensate. A dye laser detuned ≈ 5nm red of the Na 3²S → 3²P₁/₂ transition was used to form the three dimensional optical lattice. The heating effects of the small detuning as well as the three-body decay processes constrained the timescale of the experiment. Certain lattice detunings were found to induce a large loss of atoms. These loss features were shown to be due to photoassociation of atoms to vibrational levels in the Na₂ (1) ³Σg+ state.