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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. Laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03289-6  

   Baker, C. J. ; Bertsche, W. ; Capra, A. ; Carruth, C. ; Cesar, C. L. ; Charlton, M. ; Christensen, A. ; Collister, R. ; Mathad, A. Cridland ; Eriksson, S. ; et al ( April 2021 , Nature)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract The photon—the quantum excitation of the electromagnetic field—is massless but carries momentum. A photon can therefore exert a force on an object upon collision 1 . Slowing the translational motion of atoms and ions by application of such a force 2,3 , known as laser cooling, was first demonstrated 40 years ago 4,5 . It revolutionized atomic physics over the following decades 6–8 , and it is now a workhorse in many fields, including studies on quantum degenerate gases, quantum information, atomic clocks and tests of fundamental physics. However, this technique has not yet been applied to antimatter. Here we demonstrate laser cooling of antihydrogen 9 , the antimatter atom consisting of an antiproton and a positron. By exciting the 1S–2P transition in antihydrogen with pulsed, narrow-linewidth, Lyman-α laser radiation 10,11 , we Doppler-cool a sample of magnetically trapped antihydrogen. Although we apply laser cooling in only one dimension, the trap couples the longitudinal and transverse motions of the anti-atoms, leading to cooling in all three dimensions. We observe a reduction in the median transverse energy by more than an order of magnitude—with a substantial fraction of the anti-atoms attaining submicroelectronvolt transverse kinetic energies. We also report the observation of the laser-driven 1S–2S transition in samples of laser-cooled antihydrogen atoms. The observed spectral line is approximately four times narrower than that obtained without laser cooling. The demonstration of laser cooling and its immediate application has far-reaching implications for antimatter studies. A more localized, denser and colder sample of antihydrogen will drastically improve spectroscopic 11–13 and gravitational 14 studies of antihydrogen in ongoing experiments. Furthermore, the demonstrated ability to manipulate the motion of antimatter atoms by laser light will potentially provide ground-breaking opportunities for future experiments, such as anti-atomic fountains, anti-atom interferometry and the creation of antimatter molecules. 

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3. Characterizing the fundamental bending vibration of a linear polyatomic molecule for symmetry violation searches

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ace471  

   Jadbabaie, Arian ; Takahashi, Yuiki ; Pilgram, Nickolas H ; Conn, Chandler J ; Zeng, Yi ; Zhang, Chi ; Hutzler, Nicholas R ( July 2023 , New Journal of Physics)

   Polyatomic molecules have been identified as sensitive probes of charge-parity violating and parity violating physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). For example, many linear triatomic molecules are both laser-coolable and have parity doublets in the ground electronic$\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}(010)$state arising from the bending vibration, both features that can greatly aid BSM searches. Understanding the$\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}(010)$state is a crucial prerequisite to precision measurements with linear polyatomic molecules. Here, we characterize the fundamental bending vibration of${}^{174}$YbOH using high-resolution optical spectroscopy on the nominally forbidden$\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}(010)$$\to \tilde{A}{}^2{\mathrm{\Pi }}_{1/2}(000)$transition at 588 nm. We assign 39 transitions originating from the lowest rotational levels of the$\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}(010)$state, and accurately model the state’s structure with an effective Hamiltonian using best-fit parameters. Additionally, we perform Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy on the$\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}(010)$state and fit the molecule-frame dipole moment to$D_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{l}}=2.16(1)$Dand the effective electrong-factor to$g_S=2.07(2)$. Further, we use an empirical model to explain observed anomalous line intensities in terms of interference from spin–orbit and vibronic perturbations in the excited$\tilde{A}{}^2{\mathrm{\Pi }}_{1/2}(000)$state. Our work is an essential step toward searches for BSM physics in YbOH and other linear polyatomic molecules.

    

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4. Gold Nanoclusters: Bridging Gold Complexes and Plasmonic Nanoparticles in Photophysical Properties

   https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9070933  

   Zhou, Meng ; Zeng, Chenjie ; Li, Qi ; Higaki, Tatsuya ; Jin, Rongchao ( July 2019 , Nanomaterials)

   Recent advances in the determination of crystal structures and studies of optical properties of gold nanoclusters in the size range from tens to hundreds of gold atoms have started to reveal the grand evolution from gold complexes to nanoclusters and further to plasmonic nanoparticles. However, a detailed comparison of their photophysical properties is still lacking. Here, we compared the excited state behaviors of gold complexes, nanolcusters, and plasmonic nanoparticles, as well as small organic molecules by choosing four typical examples including the Au10 complex, Au25 nanocluster (1 nm metal core), 13 diameter Au nanoparticles, and Rhodamine B. To compare their photophysical behaviors, we performed steady-state absorption, photoluminescence, and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic measurements. It was found that gold nanoclusters behave somewhat like small molecules, showing both rapid internal conversion (<1 ps) and long-lived excited state lifetime (about 100 ns). Unlike the nanocluster form in which metal–metal transitions dominate, gold complexes showed significant charge transfer between metal atoms and surface ligands. Plasmonic gold nanoparticles, on the other hand, had electrons being heated and cooled (~100 ps time scale) after photo-excitation, and the relaxation was dominated by electron–electron scattering, electron–phonon coupling, and energy dissipation. In both nanoclusters and plasmonic nanoparticles, one can observe coherent oscillations of the metal core, but with different fundamental origins. Overall, this work provides some benchmarking features for organic dye molecules, organometallic complexes, metal nanoclusters, and plasmonic nanoparticles. 

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5. Two-Photon Vibrational Transitions in 16O2+ as Probes of Variation of the Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio

   https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms7010001  

   Carollo, Ryan ; Frenett, Alexander ; Hanneke, David ( March 2019 , Atoms)

   Vibrational overtones in deeply-bound molecules are sensitive probes for variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ . In nonpolar molecules, these overtones may be driven as two-photon transitions. Here, we present procedures for experiments with 16 O 2 + , including state-preparation through photoionization, a two-photon probe, and detection. We calculate transition dipole moments between all X 2 Π g vibrational levels and those of the A 2 Π u excited electronic state. Using these dipole moments, we calculate two-photon transition rates and AC-Stark-shift systematics for the overtones. We estimate other systematic effects and statistical precision. Two-photon vibrational transitions in 16 O 2 + provide multiple routes to improved searches for μ variation. 

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