2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Rydberg atoms at sub-micron distance with overlapping electronic clouds
| Project/Area Number |
19K23429
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Review Section |
0202:Condensed matter physics, plasma science, nuclear engineering, earth resources engineering, energy engineering, and related fields
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Institute for Molecular Science |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
|
| Keywords | Quantum physics / Rydberg atoms / Dipole dipole coupling / Optical tweezers / Ultracold atoms / Ultrafast excitation |
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We trap Rubidium87 atoms in optical tweezers, excite the atoms to Rydberg states with picosecond pulsed lasers and study the ultrafast (nanosecond-scale) dynamics between the atoms which is driven by the dipole-dipole interaction.
First, we succeeded in constructing a ultra-high vacuum experimental setup, forming laser-cooled cloud of Rb atoms, and trapping and imaging single Rb atoms in an array of up to 800 holographic tweezers. Then, we developed novel holographic methods for bringing two atoms as close as 1.2 micrometer, and applied advanced cooling techniques to bring the atoms in the motional quantum ground-state of the tweezers. Finally, we realized a new ultrafast (10 ps) excitation scheme to efficiently bring the atoms into a Rydberg state. The preparation success has been improved from 10 % to 75 %.
Combining all these techniques, we observed a dipole-dipole driven energy exchange between two close-by Rydberg atoms, in a regime unexplored so far.
|
| Free Research Field |
Atomic, molecular and optical physics
|
| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
This project demonstrated that it is possible to prepare and use ultracold atoms in large array of optical tweezers. Moreover, for the first time, we demonstrated a coherent interaction-driven dynamics between two single atoms, in only a few nanosecond.
|
