Sub-second production of a quantum degenerate gas

Realizing faster experimental cycle times is important for the future of quantum simulation. The cycle time determines how often the many-body wave-function can be sampled, defining the rate at which information is extracted from the quantum simulation. We demonstrate a system which can produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of 8×10^4 168Er atoms with approximately 85% condensate fraction in 800 ms and a degenerate Fermi gas of 167Er in 4 seconds, which are unprecedented times compared to many existing quantum gas experiments. This is accomplished by several novel cooling techniques and a tunable dipole trap. The methods used here for accelerating the production of quantum degenerate gases should be applicable to a variety of atomic species and are promising for expanding the capabilities of quantum simulation.