In this thesis we present novel techniques for the study of ultracold gases of lithium atoms. In the first part of this thesis, we present the development of a narrow-linewidth laser source emitting 840mW of output power in the vicinity of the lithium D-line resonances at 671 nm. The source is based on a diode-end-pumped unidirectional ring laser operating on the 1342-nm transition in Nd:YVO4, capable of producing 1.3W of single-mode light delivered in a diffraction-limited beam. The output beam is subsequently frequency-doubled using periodically-poled potassium titanyl phosphate (ppKTP) in an external buildup cavity. We obtain doubling efficiencies of up to 86%. Tunability of the output frequency over more than 400GHz and frequency-locking of the cavity ensemble with respect to the lithium D-line transitions are accomplished. We measure the linewidth to be 200+400-200kHz. In the second part of this thesis, we employ the source in an experimental setup to produce to cool and trap lithium atoms. We realize samples of finite-temperature unitary Bose gases around the center of a Fano-Feshbach resonance, where interactions between the atoms are maximized. We present temperature-dependent measurements of the unitarity-limited three-body loss rate. The measured losses attain the limiting value imposed by quantum mechanics without adjustable parameters. This measurement allows for the introduction of a criterion for quasi-equilibrium. In this regime, by using technique based on in-situ imaging developed in our group, we provide a first measurement of the equation of state of the unitary Bose gas at low fugacities.
