An optical dipole trap in a drop tower - the PRIMUS-project*

The application of matter wave interferometry in a microgravity (µg) environment offers the potential of largely extended interferometer times and thereby highly increased sensitivities in precision measurements, e.g. of the universality of free fall. While most µg-based cold atom experiments use magnetic trapping on an atom chip, we develop an optical dipole trap as an alternative source for matter wave interferometry in weightlessness. Solely using optical potentials offers unique advantages like improved trap symmetry, trapping of all magnetic sub-levels and the accessibility of Feshbach resonances. Equipping a 50W trapping laser at a wavelength of 1064nm we implement a cold atom experiment for use in the drop tower at ZARM in Bremen, a free fall tower with a height of 110m offering 4.7s of microgravity time with excellent microgravity quaity. We demonstrated Bose-Einstein condensation of Rubidium in a compact setup on ground while now focusing on a fast, efficient preparation in microgravity using painted optical potentials. Within this talk we will report on the current status and latest results of the experiment.