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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 12: Poster – Cold Atoms and Molecules, Matter Waves (joint session Q/A/MO)
MO 12.41: Poster
Dienstag, 11. März 2025, 14:00–16:00, Tent
Rydberg interactions in ultracold Ytterbium — •Florian Pausewang, Tangi Legrand, Xin Wang, Ludwig Müller, Eduardo Uruñuela, Wolfgang Alt, and Sebastian Hofferberth — Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn, Germany
Mapping the strong interactions between Rydberg excitations in ultra-cold atomic ensembles onto photons opens the door to achieving high optical nonlinearities at the single-photon level. While previous demonstrations of this concept have relied exclusively on alkali atoms, two-valence-electron species like ytterbium offer unique advantages, such as narrow-linewidth laser cooling and, for Yb-174, potentially longer coherence times of polaritons compared to earlier Rubidium-based experiments. In this poster, we present our new ytterbium apparatus including Yb-specific challenges as light-induced atomic repulsion and two-photon ionization processes, and discuss our progress towards photon-photon interactions by Rydberg polaritons. We also report the spectroscopic characterization of ultra long-range Yb Rydberg molecules that arise as bound states in the low energy scattering of a highly excited Rydberg electron and a ground state atom. Our experimental setup featuring a dual-chamber compact design and a two-color MOT allows the creation of dipole trapped atomic ensembles at high density and low temperature, with 5·106 atoms and T < 10 µK within 2 s. Further evaporative cooling down to condensation is possible. Additionally, a field ionization system with ion detection via a Micro-Channel Plate enables high-precision spectroscopy.
Keywords: Rydberg Quantum Optics; Two-color MOT; Ytterbium; EIT; Rydberg Molecules