Rostock 2019 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 7: Ultracold Plasmas and Rydberg Systems

Q 7.4: Talk

Monday, March 11, 2019, 11:15–11:30, S SR 211 Maschb.

New ultracold Ytterbium experiment for Rydberg quantum optics — •Philipp Lunt, Aksel Nielsen, Mohammad Noaman, Simon Ball, and Sebastian Hofferberth — University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg excitations in ultracold atomic ensembles onto single photons enables the realization of optical nonlinearities which can modify light on the level of individual photons.

Here, we present our new experiment to study the interactions between a large number of photons converted into Rydberg polaritons simultaneously propagating through a medium with extremely high atomic density. It is proposed to achieve this aim by exploiting the properties of Ytterbium, an alkaline-earth-like element. In a nutshell, these properties consist of an ultraviolet probe wavelength, access to narrow inter-combination lines for efficient Doppler cooling and access to triple magical wavelengths. As consequence, we expect a high optical depth per blockade volume and long coherence times for stopped or slow polaritons.

This talk will discuss the status of the experiment apparatus for this novel system and the progress towards Ytterbium quantum optics. In particular, we will discuss our complete laser setup, which achieves sub-100Hz linewidths for 395nm, 399nm and 556nm lasers locked to a high-finesse cavity.