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1. Optical dipole trapping of Holmium

   Yip, C.; Booth, D.; Zhou, H.; Collett, J.; Hostetter, J.; Saffman, M. (January 2018, 49th annual meeting of the APS division of Atomic, Molecular, & optical physics)

   Neutral Holmiums 128 ground hyperfi ne states, the most of any non-radioactive element, is a test bed for quantum con- trol of a very high dimensional Hilbert space, and offers a promising platform for quantum computing. Previously we have cooled Holmium atoms in a MOT on a 410.5 nm transition and characterized its Ry- dberg spectra. We report here on the first optical dipole trapping of Holmium with a 532 nm wavelength trap laser. The trap lifetime is close to 1 sec., limited by photon scattering from nearby transitions. The trapped atoms are used to measure the dynamic scalar and tensor polarizabilities which are compared with calculations based on measured oscillator strengths. We also report progress towards narrow line cooling and magnetic trapping of single atoms. 

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2. High resolution spectroscopy of thulium atoms implanted in solid noble gas crystals

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.214101  

   Gaire, Vinod; Do, Mi Y.; Pei, Yiting; Semenova, Anthony; Parker, Colin V. (December 2023, Physical Review B)

   Optically active defects in solid-state systems have many applications in quantum information and sensing. However, unlike free atoms, which have fixed optical transition frequencies, the inhomogeneous broadening of the transitions in solid-state environments limit their use as identical scatterers for such applications. Here we show that crystals of argon and neon prepared in a closed-cycle cryostat doped with thulium atoms at cryogenic temperatures are an exception. High resolution absorption and emission spectroscopy show that the 1140 nm magnetic dipole transition is split into multiple components. The origin of this splitting is likely a combination of different classes of trapping sites, crystal field effects within each site, and hyperfine interactions. The individual lines have ensemble widths as small as 0.6 GHz, which temperature dependence and pump-probe spectroscopy indicate is likely a homogeneous effect, suggesting inhomogeneity is well below the GHz scale. 

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3. A reconfi gurable blue-detuned lattice for neutral atom quantum computing

   Graham, Trent; Poole, Cody; Xiaoyu, Jiang; Marra, Alphonse; Grinkemeyer, Brandon; Hickman, Garrett; Cherek, Josh; Ebert, Matthew; Saffman, Mark (May 2019, 50th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics APS Meeting)

   We present recent progress towards building a neutral atom quantum computer. We use a new design for a blue-detuned optical lattice to trap single Cs atoms. The lattice is created using a combination of diffractive elements and acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) which give a reconfigurable set of cross-hatched lines. By using AODs, we can vary the number of traps and size of the trapping regions as well as eliminate extraneous traps in Talbot planes. Since this trap uses blue-detuned light, it traps both ground state atoms and atoms excited to the Rydberg state; moreover, by tuning the size of the trapping region, we can make the traps “magic” for a selected Rydberg state. We use an optical tweezer beam for atom rearrangement. When loading atoms into the array, trap sites randomly contain zero or one atoms. Atoms are then moved between different trapping sites using a red-detuned optical tweezer. Optimal atom rearrangement is calculated using the “Hungarian Method”. These rearrangement techniques can be used to create defect-free sub-lattices. Lattice atoms can also be used as a reservoir for a set of selected sites. This allows quick replacement of atoms, and increased data rate, without reloading from a MOT. 

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4. A reconfi gurable blue-detuned lattice for neutral atom quantum computing

   GRAHAM, T.; POOLE, C; JIANG, X; MARRA, Z; GRINKEMEYER, B; HICKMAN, G; CHEREK, J; EBERT, M; SAFFMAN, M. (May 2019, DAMOP 2019)

   We present recent progress towards building a neutral atom quantum computer. We use a new design for a blue-detuned optical lattice to trap single Cs atoms. The lattice is created using a combination of diffractive elements and acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) which give a reconfigurable set of cross-hatched lines. By using AODs, we can vary the number of traps and size of the trapping regions as well as eliminate extraneous traps in Talbot planes. Since this trap uses blue-detuned light, it traps both ground state atoms and atoms excited to the Rydberg state; moreover, by tuning the size of the trapping region, we can make the traps “magic” for a selected Rydberg state. We use an optical tweezer beam for atom rearrangement. When loading atoms into the array, trap sites randomly contain zero or one atoms. Atoms are then moved between different trapping sites using a red-detuned optical tweezer. Optimal atom rearrangement is calculated using the “Hungarian Method”. These rearrangement techniques can be used to create defect-free sub-lattices. Lattice atoms can also be used as a reservoir for a set of selected sites. This allows quick replacement of atoms, and increased data rate, without reloading from a MOT. 

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5. On-chip optical levitation with a metalens in vacuum

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.438410  

   Shen, Kunhong; Duan, Yao; Ju, Peng; Xu, Zhujing; Chen, Xi; Zhang, Lidan; Ahn, Jonghoon; Ni, Xingjie; Li, Tongcang (October 2021, Optica)

   Optical levitation of dielectric particles in vacuum is a powerful technique for precision measurements, testing fundamental physics, and quantum information science. Conventional optical tweezers require bulky optical components for trapping and detection. Here, we design and fabricate an ultrathin dielectric metalens with a high numerical aperture of 0.88 at 1064 nm in vacuum. It consists of 500-nm-thick silicon nano-antennas, which are compatible with an ultrahigh vacuum. We demonstrate optical levitation of nanoparticles in vacuum with a single metalens. The trapping frequency can be tuned by changing the laser power and polarization. We also transfer a levitated nanoparticle between two separated optical tweezers. Optical levitation with an ultrathin metalens in vacuum provides opportunities for a wide range of applications including on-chip sensing. Such metalenses will also be useful for trapping ultracold atoms and molecules. 

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