Loading an Rb-87 MOT directly into a variable-period accordion lattice

We report on our progress toward loading an Rb-87 three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT) directly into a two-dimensional variable-period optical lattice\footnote{J.H. Huckans, Univ. of Maryland doctoral dissertation (2006).}$^,$\footnote{L. Fallani \textit{et al}., Opt. Express \textbf{13}, 4303-4313 (2005).} (2D accordion lattice). Preliminary calculations suggest the feasibility of achieving an approximate 10$^{2}$ increase in phase space density by combining gray-molasses-type cooling techniques\footnote{G. Salomon~\textit{et al}., \textit{EPL}~\textbf{104,}~63002 (2013).} with spatial density compression of a 3D MOT with an accordion lattice.