IQIM Postdoctoral and Graduate Student Seminar

Abstract: Neutral atoms in optical tweezers provide a versatile experimental platform for assembling quantum many-body systems in multidimensional arrays with single-particle control, tunable interactions, and variable geometries. Alkaline earth atoms offer narrow and ultra-narrow optical transitions suitable for exploring narrow-line cooling mechanisms and exploiting optical clock transitions as long-lived optical qubits.

In this seminar, I will present our recent experimental results demonstrating the trapping, cooling, and imaging of single strontium atoms in two-dimensional arrays of optical tweezers [1, 2]. First, I will introduce a novel narrow-line cooling mechanism that allows for compensating for heating during fluorescence imaging over a wide range of parameters. Then, I will explain how tuning the wavelength and polarization of the trapping light enables achieving a magic trapping condition suitable for implementing resolved sideband cooling of single atoms close to their motional ground state. Finally, I will describe our approach to perform repetitive non-destructive imaging of single atoms with a fidelity of 99.991(1)% for more than a thousand times. These results pave the way for novel experiments in precision metrology using the ultra-narrow optical clock transition and quantum simulation using strong direct excitation to Rydberg states.

[1] A. Cooper, J. P. Covey, I. S. Madjarov, S. G. Porsev, M. S. Safronova, M. Endres.
"Alkaline earth atoms in optical tweezers.", arXiv:1810.06537 (in press at PRX, 2018).

[2] J. P. Covey, I. S. Madjarov, A. Cooper, M. Endres.
"2000-times repeated imaging of strontium atoms in clock-magic tweezer arrays.", arXiv:1810.06014 (2018).