Rydberg-dressed Magneto-Optical Trap

Bounds, A. D.; Jackson, N. C. ; Hanley, R. K. ; Faoro, R.; Bridge, E. M. ; Huillery, P.; Jones, M. P. A.

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate the laser cooling and trapping of Rydberg-dressed Sr atoms. By offresonantly coupling the excited state of a narrow (7 kHz) cooling transition to a high-lying Rydberg state, we transfer Rydberg properties such as enhanced electric polarizability to a stable magneto-optical trap operating at < 1 μK. Simulations show that it is possible to reach a regime where the long-range interaction between Rydberg-dressed atoms becomes comparable to the kinetic energy, opening a route to combining laser cooling with tunable long-range interactions.

Citation

Bounds, A. D., Jackson, N. C., Hanley, R. K., Faoro, R., Bridge, E. M., Huillery, P., & Jones, M. P. A. (2018). Rydberg-dressed Magneto-Optical Trap. Physical Review Letters, 120(18), Article 183401. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.120.183401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 5, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 4, 2018
• Publication Date: May 4, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2018
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 18
• Article Number: 183401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.120.183401
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1341211