Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 32: Quantum Gases (joint session Q/A)

A 32.7: Talk

Thursday, March 14, 2024, 16:00–16:15, Aula

Fast preparation of cold Ytterbium gases for Rydberg quantum optics experiments — •Xin Wang, Thilina Muthu-arachchige, Tangi Legrand, Ludwig Müller, Wolfgang Alt, Eduardo Uruñuela, and Sebastian Hofferberth — Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn, Germany

Mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg excitations in ultracold atomic ensembles onto single photons paves the way to realize and control high optical nonlinearities at the level of single photons. Demonstrations of photon-photon gates or multi-photon bound states based on this concept have so far exclusively employed ultracold alkali atoms. Two-valence electron species, such as Ytterbium, offer unique novel features namely narrow-linewidth laser-cooling, optical detection and ionization or long-lived nuclear-spin memory states.

In this talk, we present our experimental progress towards the realization of strong photon-photon interactions, mediated by the Yb-174 Rydberg polaritons formed in a 1-D ultracold Ytterbium gas. Specifically, we discuss our compact two-chamber experimental design enabling fast production of ultracold Yb-174 gases at high density. Instead of an oven and Zeeman slower, we use a fast-loading two-stage hybrid MOT sequence to prepare and load the atoms in an elongated dipole trap, where we generate Rydberg polaritons under Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency. Owing to the zero nuclei spin of Yb-174 and singlet spin state in bivalent structure, longer coherent times are expected compared to experiments with alkali atoms.

Keywords: Ultracold Ytterbium; Rydberg polariton; Electromagnetically induced transparency; Nonlinear Optics