Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps
Roman Bause, Andreas Schindewolf, Renhao Tao, Marcel Duda, Xing-Yan Chen, Goulven Quéméner, Tijs Karman, Arthur Christianen, Immanuel Bloch, Xin-Yu Luo
Understanding collisions between ultracold molecules is crucial for making stable molecular quantum gases and harnessing their rich internal degrees of freedom for quantum engineering. Transient complexes can strongly influence collisional physics, but in the ultracold regime, key aspects of their behavior have remained unknown. To explain experimentally observed loss of ground-state molecules from optical dipole traps, it was recently proposed that molecular complexes can be lost due to photo-excitation. By trapping molecules in a repulsive box potential using laser light near a narrow molecular transition, we are able to test this hypothesis with light intensities three orders of magnitude lower than what is typical in red-detuned dipole traps. This allows us to investigate light-induced collisional loss in a gas of nonreactive fermionic $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules. Even for the lowest intensities available in our experiment, our results are consistent with universal loss, meaning unit loss probability inside the short-range interaction potential. Our findings disagree by at least two orders of magnitude with latest theoretical predictions, showing that crucial aspects of molecular collisions are not yet understood, and provide a benchmark for the development of new theories.
We report on the compensation of excess micromotion due to parasitic rf-electric fields in a Paul trap. The parasitic rf-electric fields stem from the Paul trap drive but cause excess micromotion, e.g. due to imperfections in the setup of the Paul trap. We compensate these fields by applying rf-voltages of the same frequency but adequate phases and amplitudes to Paul trap electrodes. The magnitude of micromotion is probed by studying elastic collision rates of the trapped ion with a gas of ultracold neutral atoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that also reactive collisions can be used to quantif…
In this paper, the condensate fraction and the critical atom number and its corresponding critical temperature of condensate ultracold boson atoms trapped in optical box traps, are investigated. The semiclassical approximation is employed in this study. The boxes traps are modeled by a general power-law potential. The deviation of the boxes traps from an ideal boxes traps are discussed. The out come results furnish useful quantitative theoretical results for the future BEC experiments in such traps
We present measurements of interspecies thermalization between ultracold samples of $^{133}$Cs and either $^{174}$Yb or $^{170}$Yb. The two species are trapped in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap and $^{133}$Cs is sympathetically cooled by Yb. We extract effective interspecies thermalization cross sections by fitting the thermalization measurements to a rate equation model, giving $σ_{\mathrm{Cs^{174}Yb}} = \left(5 \pm 2\right) \times 10^{-13} \, \mathrm{cm^{2}}$ and $σ_{\mathrm{Cs^{170}Yb}} = \left(18 \pm 8\right) \times 10^{-13} \, \mathrm{cm^{2}}$. We perform quantum scattering calcu…
Ultracold atoms placed in a tight cigar-shaped trap are usually described in terms of the Lieb-Liniger model. We study the extensions of this model which arise when van der Waals interaction between atoms is taken into account. We find that the corrections induced by the finite range of interactions can become especially important in the vicinity of narrow Feshbach resonances and suggest realistic schemes of their experimental detection. The interplay of confinement and interactions can lead to effective transparency where the one-dimensional interactions are weak in a wide range of parameters…
We report on the design, implementation, and performance of a compact two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT) for cesium. In a small-volume vacuum chamber, the setup uses cesium dispensers in close proximity to the trapping region of the 2D MOT and operates at low vapor pressures in the $10^{-9}$ torr range. We achieve a cold atom flux of $4 \times 10^8$ atoms/s that is comparable to the performance of more complex atomic sources. The setup is simple to construct and can be adapted to a broad range of atomic species.
Spatial adiabatic passage processes for ultracold atoms trapped in tunnel-coupled cylindrically symmetric concentric potentials are investigated. Specifically, we discuss the matter-wave analogue of the rapid adiabatic passage (RAP) technique for a high fidelity and robust loading of a single atom into a harmonic ring potential from a harmonic trap, and for its transport between two concentric rings. We also consider a system of three concentric rings and investigate the transport of a single atom between the innermost and the outermost rings making use of the matter-wave analogue of the stimu…
Thermalization measurements on an ultracold mixture of metastable $^4$He and $^{87}$Rb atoms in a quadrupole magnetic trap
最近，我们报道了（Knoop等人[arXiv：1404.4826]）通过在四极磁阱中对超冷混合物进行热化测量，实验测定亚稳态三重态$^4$ He+ $^{87}$ Rb散射长度。在这里，我们提出了我们的实验装置，并详细说明这些热化测量。特别地，我们给出了四极磁阱种间热化率的理论描述。e.在Majorana加热的存在下，和一个通用的程序来提取散射长度从弹性截面在有限温度下的$C_6$系数的知识的基础上单独。此外，从我们的热化数据中，我们得到了一个上限的总种间两体损失率系数$1.5\times 10^{-12}$ cm $^3$ s $^{-1}$。
We theoretically investigate the properties of two interacting ultracold highly magnetic atoms trapped in a one-dimensional harmonic potential. The atoms interact via an anisotropic long-range dipole-dipole interaction, which in one dimension effectively can be modeled by the contact interaction. We investigate the interplay of the external magnetic field, the spin-spin interaction, and the trapping potential and how they affect the magnetization of the system. We show the role of indistinguishability and symmetries in the dynamics by studying the time evolution of the observables that could b…
All-optical bubble trap for ultracold atoms in microgravity
ICFO - Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（ICFO-光子科学研究所，巴塞罗那科学技术研究院）；LP2N, Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences, Université de Bordeaux-IOGS-CNRS:UMR 5298（LP2N，光、数字与纳米科学实验室，波尔多大学-IOGS-CNRS）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bates College（贝茨学院物理与天文学系）；Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex（苏塞克斯大学物理与天文学系）
We investigate the properties of two interacting ultracold polar molecules described as distinguishable quantum rigid rotors, trapped in a one-dimensional harmonic potential. The molecules interact via a multichannel two-body contact potential, incorporating the short-range anisotropy of intermolecular interactions including dipole-dipole interaction. The impact of external electric and magnetic fields resulting in Stark and Zeeman shifts of molecular rovibrational states is also investigated. Energy spectra and eigenstates are calculated by means of the exact diagonalization. The importance a…
Ultrafast electronic dynamics are typically studied using pulsed lasers. We demonstrate a complementary experimental approach: quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms. Counter-intuitively, this technique emulates some of the fastest processes in atomic physics with some of the slowest, leading to a temporal magnification factor of up to twelve orders of magnitude. In these experiments, time-varying forces on neutral atoms in the ground state of a tunable optical trap emulate the electric fields of a pulsed laser acting on bound charged particles. We demonstrate t…
Arrays of single ultracold molecules promise to be a powerful platform for many applications ranging from quantum simulation to precision measurement. Here we report on the creation of an optical tweezer array of single ultracold CaF molecules. By utilizing light-induced collisions during the laser cooling process, we trap single molecules. The high densities attained inside the tweezer traps have also enabled us to observe in the absence of light molecule-molecule collisions of laser cooled molecules for the first time.
We show that the Bose-Hubbard Model exhibits an increase in density with temperature at fixed pressure in the regular fluid regime and in the superfluid phase. The anomaly at the Bose-Einstein condensate is the first density anomaly observed in a quantum state. We propose that the mechanism underlying both the normal phase and the superfluid phase anomalies is related to zero point entropies and ground state phase transitions. A connection with the typical experimental scales and setups is also addressed. This key finding opens a new pathway for theoretical and experimental studies of water-li…
All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging techniques for high-resolution and configurable optical trapping of ultracold atoms. We focus on optical deflectors and spatial light modulators in the Fourier and direct imaging configurations. These optical techniques have enabled significant progress in studies of superfluid dynamics, single-atom trapping, and underlie the emerging field of atomtronics. Th…
A vortex in a Bose-Einstein condensate on a ring undergoes quantum dynamics in response to a quantum quench in terms of partial symmetry breaking from a uniform lattice to a biperiodic one. Neither the current, a macroscopic measure, nor fidelity, a microscopic measure, exhibit critical behavior. Instead, the symmetry memory succeeds in identifying the point at which the system begins to forget its initial symmetry state. We further identify a symmetry energy difference in the low lying excited states which trends with the symmetry memory.
We theoretically investigate the magnetic properties and nonequilibrium dynamics of two interacting ultracold polar and paramagnetic molecules in a one-dimensional harmonic trap in external electric and magnetic fields. The molecules interact via a multichannel two-body contact potential, incorporating the short-range anisotropy of intermolecular interactions. We show that various magnetization states arise from the interplay of the molecular interactions, electronic spins, dipole moments, rotational structures, external fields, and spin-rotation coupling. The rich magnetization diagrams depen…
The ground-state properties of a few spin-1/2 fermions with different masses and interacting via short-range contact forces are studied within an exact diagonalization approach. It is shown that, depending on the shape of the external confinement, different scenarios of the spatial separation between components manifested by specific shapes of the density profiles can be obtained in the strong interaction limit. We find that the ground-state of the system undergoes a specific transition between orderings when the confinement is changed adiabatically from a uniform box to a harmonic oscillator …
We theoretically investigate magnetic properties of a trapped ultracold Fermi gas. Including pairing fluctuations within the framework of an extended $T$-matrix approximation (ETMA), as well as effects of a harmonic trap in the local density approximation (LDA), we calculate the local spin susceptibility $χ_{\rm t}(r,T)$ in the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover region. We show that pairing fluctuations cause non-monotonic temperature dependence of $χ_{\rm t}(r,T)$. Although this behavior looks similar to the spin-gap phenomenon associated with pairing f…
Exact two-dimensional analytic wave functions for an arbitrary number $N$ of contact-interacting lowest-Landau-level (LLL) spinful fermions are derived with the use of combined numerical and symbolic computational approaches via analysis of exact Hamiltonian numerical diagonalization data. Closed-form analytic expressions are presented for two families of zero-interaction-energy states at given total angular momentum and total spin $0 \leq S \leq N/2$ in the neighborhood of the $ν=1$ filling, covering the range from the maximum density droplet to the first quasihole. Our theoretical prediction…
Elucidating similarities and differences between quantum-optics biphoton interference phenomena and the quantum physics of quasi-one-dimensional double-well optically-trapped ultracold neutral bosonic or fermionic atoms, we show that the analog of the optical biphoton joint-coincidence spectral correlations, studied with massless non-interacting biphotons emanating from EPR-Bell-Bohm single-occupancy sources, corresponds to a distinct contribution in the total second-order momentum correlations of the massive, interacting, and time-evolving ultracold atoms. This single-occupancy contribution c…
