Hannover 2013 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 56: Poster III

Q 56.85: Poster

Donnerstag, 21. März 2013, 16:00–18:30, Empore Lichthof

Electric field optimization of a Rydberg atom experiment — •Maximilian Argus, Hanna Schempp, Georg Günter, Shannon Whitlock, and Matthias Weidelmueller — Physikalisches Institut Universitaet Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg Germany

Modern experiments with ultracold Rydberg atoms with application to many body physics and quantum information science, demand a high level of experimental sophistication. In particular, Rydberg atoms are highly polarizable, therefore special care must be taken to control external electric fields. In our experiment this is possible using a structure hosting >10 individually controllable electrodes. However, finding the optimal control voltages can be a challenging task, further complicated by incomplete knowledge of the underlying charge distributions, including possible patch fields.

To overcome this challenge we have applied evolutionary algorithms, a group of powerful search heuristics, to optimize the overall performance of our experiment. Focussing on two problems: cancellation of electric fields and and optimum guiding of field ionized Rydberg atoms to a MCP detector, we asses the performance of several algorithms with competing requirements of noise robustness and fast convergence. Future applications to controlling quantum state evolution and engineering strongly correlated many body systems of interacting Rydberg atoms will be considered.