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This thesis details the development of a blue-detuned optical dipole trap for tightly confining a fermionic 6Li quantum gas in 2D, as part of the lab’s overarching goal of realizing periodic 1D “quantum wires.” Achieving this goal required an order of magnitude tighter 6Li vertical confinement by embedding this blue-detuned trap within the apparatus. The primary engineering challenge was generating a highly asymmetric Hermite–Gaussian TEM01 laser-field (λ = 532 nm) such that atoms reside in the dark central node of the electromagnetic field oriented horizontally. The optical system was optimized to produce a Gaussian laser-field from a single-mode fiber, which was converted to TEM01 using a custom π-phase plate. Modeling and testing determined the beam waists required to achieve a vertical trapping frequency fz = 10 kHz at 100 mW laser power. Critically, the trap design allowed integration with existing red-detuned trapping and imaging systems. This enhanced vertical confinement will enable the study of Fermi gases in reduced dimensionality, including the creation of exotic quantum phases in 1D.

Advisor: Professor Kevin Wright

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