Optimizing the efficiency of evaporative cooling in optical dipole traps

We present a combined computational and experimental study to optimize the efficiency of evaporative cooling for atoms in optical dipole traps. By employing a kinetic model of evaporation, we provide a strategy for determining the optimal relation between atom temperature, trap depth, and average trap frequency during evaporation given experimental initial conditions. We then experimentally implement a highly efficient evaporation process in an optical dipole trap, showing excellent agreement between the theory and experiment. This method has allowed the creation of pure Bose-Einstein condensates of Rb-87 with 2 x 10(4) atoms starting from only 5 x 10(5) atoms initially loaded in the optical dipole trap, achieving an evaporation efficiency gamma(eff) of 4.0 during evaporation.