Research on ultra-cold atoms lies at the intersection of atomic physics, many-body physics, quantum optics and quantum information. Quantum physics dominates the behavior of atomic gases cooled to near absolute zero temperature, and cold trapped atoms provide an ideal experimental system for studying quantum many-body physics. Our research focuses on ultra-cold gases of Rubidium atoms and Ytterbium/Rubidium mixtures, with the goals of studying novel condensed matter systems and engineering quantum control over many-body systems, including dissipative baths.
Anomalous Rydberg Line Broadening Observed
We have recently observed interaction-induced broadening of a Rydberg transition in rubidium trapped in a 3D optical lattice. Our observations cannot be attributed to the typical van der Waals interaction between Rydberg atoms in the same state, due to the magnitude and symmetry of the broadening and the insensitivity of the effect to the short-range spatial distribution of atoms.
Yang Wang joins the mixtures group!
Yang Wang has joined the Rb/Yb mixtures group! He comes to us as a recent Ph.D. from Dave Weiss' quantum computation group at Penn State, where he perfected addressable single qubit gates of neutral Cs atoms in a lattice.
Eric Magnan joins the group
Eric Magnan has joined the group! He comes to us as a joint graduate student between JQI/UMD and the Browaeys group at the Institute d'Optique. He will be working on the Rubidium Lattice experiment.
Elizabeth Goldschmidt is moving on to ARL
Elizabeth is moving on to a position at the Army Research Lab! Located near by, we hope to continue to have significant collaborations with her in her new position.
BEC is back!
We have our first Bose-Einstein condensate after the move from NIST! Using an optical dipole trap plus a quadrupole magnetic trap, we were able to produce our first BEC on the UMD campus. The next step is to optimize the BEC and then get the optical lattice working.
Quantum Degenerate Mixtures of Rubidium and Ytterbium
We have recently created the first degenerate mixture of rubidium and ytterbium atoms.
Rb I moves from NIST to UMD!
An eventful day: the Rubidium optical lattice chamber/table was rigged and moved. We managed to move the entire experiment under vacuum (ion pumps running on UPS) and with the oven cold cup kept cold (a bucket of ice and water pump).
Super-exchange mediated magnetization dynamics published
Our group has recently observed non-equilibrium manybody dynamics governed by both superexchange and tunneling mechanisms. Using dynamical control of our lattice, we constructed non-equilibrium anti-feromagnetic order and observed the subsequent magnetization relaxation. By tuning tuning the relative superexchange and tunneling energy scales, we can identify the mechanisms for relaxation, and work in a regime dominated by super-exchange despite the presence of vacancies.
Roger leaves for NIST Boulder
Today is Roger's last day at NIST East! Is headed to NIST Boulder to work with Chris Oates on Ytterbium lattice clocks. We celebrated with one last trip to Town Hall.
Magic Zero wavelength of the 18s Rydberg state in Rb published
The differential light shift between the 18s and 5s states in Rubidium have been meausured near a wavelenth 1063.5 nm, and a "magic zero" condition was identified theoretically and experimentally. The results have been accepted for publication in Physical Review A and selected as an "editors suggestion".