We use a deep neural network to detect and place region-of-interest boxes around ultracold atom clouds in absorption and fluorescence images---with the ability to identify and bound multiple clouds within a single image. The neural network also outputs segmentation masks that identify the size, shape and orientation of each cloud from which we extract the clouds Gaussian parameters. This allows 2D Gaussian fits to be reliably seeded thereby enabling fully automatic image processing.
We describe a robust and reliable fluorescence detector for single atoms that is fully integrated into an atom chip. The detector allows spectrally and spatially selective detection of atoms, reaching a single atom detection efficiency of 66%. It consists of a tapered lensed single-mode fiber for precise delivery of excitation light and a multi-mode fiber to collect the fluorescence. The fibers are mounted in lithographically defined holding structures on the atom chip. Neutral 87Rb atoms propagating freely in a magnetic guide are detected and the noise of their fluorescence emission is analyzed. The variance of the photon distribution allows to determine the number of detected photons / atom and from there the atom detection efficiency. The second order intensity correlation function of the fluorescence shows near-perfect photon anti-bunching and signs of damped Rabi-oscillations. With simple improvements one can boost the detection efficiency to > 95%.
We experimentally investigate a scheme for studying lattice transport phenomena, based on the controlled momentum-space dynamics of ultracold atomic matter waves. In the effective tight-binding models that can be simulated, we demonstrate that this technique allows for a local and time-dependent control over all system parameters, and additionally allows for single-site resolved detection of atomic populations. We demonstrate full control over site-to-site off-diagonal tunneling elements (amplitude and phase) and diagonal site-energies, through the observation of continuous-time quantum walks, Bloch oscillations, and negative tunneling. These capabilities open up new prospects in the experimental study of disordered and topological systems.
Alkaline-earth (AE) atoms have metastable clock states with minute-long optical lifetimes, high-spin nuclei, and SU($N$)-symmetric interactions that uniquely position them for advancing atomic clocks, quantum information processing, and quantum simulation. The interplay of precision measurement and quantum many-body physics is beginning to foster an exciting scientific frontier with many opportunities. Few particle systems provide a window to view the emergence of complex many-body phenomena arising from pairwise interactions. Here, we create arrays of isolated few-body systems in a fermionic ${}^{87}$Sr three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice clock and use high resolution clock spectroscopy to directly observe the onset of both elastic and inelastic multi-body interactions. These interactions cannot be broken down into sums over the underlying pairwise interactions. We measure particle-number-dependent frequency shifts of the clock transition for atom numbers $n$ ranging from 1 to 5, and observe nonlinear interaction shifts, which are characteristic of SU($N$)-symmetric elastic multi-body effects. To study inelastic multi-body effects, we use these frequency shifts to isolate $n$-occupied sites and measure the corresponding lifetimes. This allows us to access the short-range few-body physics free from systematic effects encountered in a bulk gas. These measurements, combined with theory, elucidate an emergence of multi-body effects in few-body systems of sites populated with ground-state atoms and those with single electronic excitations. By connecting these few-body systems through tunneling, the favorable energy and timescales of the interactions will allow our system to be utilized for studies of high-spin quantum magnetism and the Kondo effect.
We demonstrate a source for correlated pairs of atoms characterized by two opposite momenta and two spatial modes forming a Bell state only involving external degrees of freedom. We characterize the state of the emitted atom beams by observing strong number squeezing up to -10 dB in the correlated two-particle modes of emission. We furthermore demonstrate genuine two-particle interference in the normalized second-order correlation function $g^{(2)}$ relative to the emitted atoms.
We present a deep learning model with temporal memory to detect clouds in image time series acquired by the Seviri imager mounted on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. The model provides pixel-level cloud maps with related confidence and propagates information in time via a recurrent neural network structure. With a single model, we are able to outline clouds along all year and during day and night with high accuracy.