A compact, transportable, microchip-based system for high repetition rate production of Bose-Einstein condensates

We present a compact, transportable system that produces Bose-Einstein condensates near the surface of an integrated atom microchip. The system occupies a volume of 0.4 m 3 , operates at a repetition rate as high as 0.3 Hz, and consumes an average power of 525 W. Evaporative cooling in a chip trap with trap frequencies of several kilohertz leads to nearly pure condensates containing 1.9 × 10 4 R 87 b atoms. Partial condensates are observed at a temperature of 1.58 ( 8 ) μ K , close to the theoretical transition temperature of 1.1 μ K .