Long-distance optical-conveyor-belt transport of ultracold 133 Cs and 87 Rb atoms

We report on the transport of a thermal cloud of ultracold cesium and rubidium atoms over about 37 cm in under 25 ms using an optical conveyor belt formed by two counterpropagating beams with a controllable frequency difference that generate a movable optical lattice. By carefully selecting the waists and focus positions, we are able to use two static Gaussian beams for the transport, avoiding the need for a Bessel beam or variable-focus lenses. We characterize the transport efficiency for both species, including a comparison of different transport trajectories, gaining insight into the loss mechanisms and finding the minimum jerk trajectory to be optimum. Using the optimized parameters, we are able to transport up to 7×106 cesium or rubidium atoms with an efficiency up to 75%. To demonstrate the viability of our transport scheme for experiments employing quantum gas microscopy, we produce Bose-Einstein condensates of either species after transport and present measurements of the simultaneous transport of both species