No Arabic abstract
Apropos to the growing interest in the study of long-range interactions which for their applications in cold atom physics, we have performed theoretical calculation for the two-dipole $C_6$ and three-dipole $C_9$ dispersion coefficients involving alkaline-earth atoms with alkaline-earth atoms and alkaline-earth ions. The $C_6$ and $C_9$ coefficients are expressed in terms of the dynamic dipole polarizabilities, which are calculated using relativistic methods. Thereafter, the calculated $C_6$ coefficients for the considered alkaline-earth atoms among themselves are compared with the previously reported values. Due to unavailability of any other earlier theoretical or experimental results, for the $C_6$ coefficients for alkaline-earth atoms with alkaline-earth ions and the $C_9$ coefficients, we have performed separate fitting calculations and compared. Our calculations match in an excellent manner with the fitting calculations. We have also reported the oscillator strengths for the leading transitions and static dipole polarizabilities for the ground states of the alkaline-earth ions, i.e., Mg$^+$, Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, and Ba$^+$ as well as the alkaline-earth atoms, i.e., Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba. These, when compared with the available experimental results, show good agreement.
Earth-alkaline-like atoms with ultra-narrow transitions open the door to a new regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics. That regime is characterized by a critical photon number that is many orders of magnitude smaller than what can be achieved in conventional systems. We show that it is possible to achieve superradiance in steady state with such systems. We discuss the basic underlying mechanisms as well as the key experimental requirements
We investigate the possibility of observing a magneto-transverse scattering of photons from alkaline-earth-like atoms as well as alkali-like ions and provide orders of magnitude. The transverse magneto-scattering is physically induced by the interference between two possible quantum transitions of an outer electron in a S-state, one dispersive electric-dipole transition to a P-orbital state and a second resonant electric-quadrupole transition to a P-orbital state. In contrast with previous mechanisms proposed for such an atomic photonic Hall effect, no real photons are scattered by the electric-dipole allowed transition, which increases the ratio of Hall current to background photons significantly. The main experimental challenge is to overcome the small detection threshold, with only 10^{-5} photons scattered per atom per second.
We demonstrate single-shot imaging and narrow-line cooling of individual alkaline earth atoms in optical tweezers; specifically, strontium-88 atoms trapped in $515.2~text{nm}$ light. We achieve high-fidelity single-atom-resolved imaging by detecting photons from the broad singlet transition while cooling on the narrow intercombination line, and extend this technique to highly uniform two-dimensional arrays of $121$ tweezers. Cooling during imaging is based on a previously unobserved narrow-line Sisyphus mechanism, which we predict to be applicable in a wide variety of experimental situations. Further, we demonstrate optically resolved sideband cooling of a single atom close to the motional ground state of a tweezer. Precise determination of losses during imaging indicate that the branching ratio from $^1$P$_1$ to $^1$D$_2$ is more than a factor of two larger than commonly quoted, a discrepancy also predicted by our ab initio calculations. We also measure the differential polarizability of the intercombination line in a $515.2~text{nm}$ tweezer and achieve a magic-trapping configuration by tuning the tweezer polarization from linear to elliptical. We present calculations, in agreement with our results, which predict a magic crossing for linear polarization at $520(2)~text{nm}$ and a crossing independent of polarization at 500.65(50)nm. Our results pave the way for a wide range of novel experimental avenues based on individually controlled alkaline earth atoms in tweezers -- from fundamental experiments in atomic physics to quantum computing, simulation, and metrology implementations.
We realize simultaneous quantum degeneracy in mixtures consisting of the alkali and alkalineearth-like atoms Li and Yb. This is accomplished within an optical trap by sympathetic cooling of the fermionic isotope 6Li with evaporatively cooled bosonic 174Yb and, separately, fermionic 173Yb.Using cross-thermalization studies, we also measure the elastic s-wave scattering lengths of both Li-Yb combinations, |a6Li-174Yb| = 1.0pm0.2 nm and |a6Li-173Yb| = 0.9pm0.2 nm. The equality of these lengths is found to be consistent with mass-scaling analysis. The quantum degenerate mixtures of Li and Yb, as realized here, can be the basis for creation of ultracold molecules with electron spin degrees of freedom, studies of novel Efimov trimers, and impurity probes of superfluid systems.
Trapped neutral atoms have become a prominent platform for quantum science, where entanglement fidelity records have been set using highly-excited Rydberg states. However, controlled two-qubit entanglement generation has so far been limited to alkali species, leaving the exploitation of more complex electronic structures as an open frontier that could lead to improved fidelities and fundamentally different applications such as quantum-enhanced optical clocks. Here we demonstrate a novel approach utilizing the two-valence electron structure of individual alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms. We find fidelities for Rydberg state detection, single-atom Rabi operations, and two-atom entanglement surpassing previously published values. Our results pave the way for novel applications, including programmable quantum metrology and hybrid atom-ion systems, and set the stage for alkaline-earth based quantum computing architectures.