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We present an optical tweezer array of 87Rb atoms housed in an cryogenic environment that successfully combines a 4-K cryopumping surface, a <50-K cold box surrounding the atoms, and a room-temperature high-numerical-aperture objective lens. We demonstrate a 3000-s atom-trap lifetime, which enables us to optimize and measure losses at the 10−4 level that arise during imaging and cooling, which are important to array rearrangement. We perform both ground-state qubit manipulation with an integrated microwave antenna and two-photon coherent Rydberg control, with the local electric field tuned to zero via inte- grated electrodes. We anticipate that the reduced blackbody radiation at the atoms from the cryogenic environment, combined with future electrical shielding, should decrease the rate of undesired transitions to nearby strongly interacting Rydberg states, which cause many-body loss and impede Rydberg gates. This low-vibration, high-optical-access cryogenic platform can be used with a wide range of optically trapped atomic or molecular species for applications in quantum computing, simulation, and metrology.
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Ultralong-range Rydberg molecules
Abstract Ultralong-range Rydberg molecules (ULRMs) comprise a Rydberg atom in whose electron cloud are embedded one (or more) ground-state atoms that are weakly-bound through their scattering of the Rydberg electron. The existence of such novel molecular species was first predicted theoretically in 2000 but they were not observed in the laboratory until 2009. Since that time, interest in their chemical properties, physical characteristics, and applications has increased dramatically. We discuss here recent advances in the study of ULRMs. These have yielded a wealth of information regarding low-energy electron scattering in an energy regime difficult to access using alternate techniques, and have provided a valuable probe of non-local spatial correlations in quantum gases elucidating the effects of quantum statistics. Studies in dense environments, where the Rydberg electron cloud can enclose hundreds, or even thousands, of ground-state atoms, have revealed many-body effects such as the creation of Rydberg polarons. The production of overlapping clouds of different cold atoms has enabled the creation of heteronuclear ULRMs. Indeed, the wide variety of atomic and molecular species that can now be cooled promises, through the careful choice of atomic (or molecular) species, to enable the production of ULRMs with properties tailored to meet a variety of different needs and applications.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1904294
- PAR ID:
- 10548109
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
- Volume:
- 57
- Issue:
- 21
- ISSN:
- 0953-4075
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 212002
- Size(s):
- Article No. 212002
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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