Shaken Atoms Change Quantum States
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• Physics 16, s105
Oscillating an optical lattice of Rydberg atoms on the proper frequency causes the atoms to make digital transitions, which could be helpful for quantum processing strategies.
R. Cardman/College of Michigan
Rydberg atoms—those who have a extremely excited electron—could possibly be helpful for quantum computing and for quantum simulations due to favorable properties, similar to lengthy lifetimes. For these purposes, researchers wish to entice the atoms in a one-dimensional (1D) lattice and manipulate every atom’s quantum state with lasers. However laser-based strategies for driving such quantum-state transitions have issue accommodating so-called odd-parity transitions, that are mandatory for some kinds of quantum data processing. Now researchers have developed a solution to induce each odd- and even-parity Rydberg transitions for atoms trapped in a 1D lattice [1], making the system extra helpful for quantum data processing.
For his or her demonstration, Ryan Cardman and Georg Raithel of the College of Michigan, Ann Arbor, trapped Rydberg atoms in a 1D optical lattice, which they created with two counterpropagating laser beams. They added a 3rd beam whose part they diversified with a view to slide the lattice forwards and backwards alongside the course of the lasers. They measured the quantum states of excited Rydberg atoms within the lattice as they diversified the oscillation frequency.
Cardman and Raithel confirmed that when the transition frequency of the excited atoms was an integer a number of of the oscillation frequency, the atoms within the lattice may swap between Rydberg quantum states. The duo confirmed that the oscillating lattice was the supply of the excitation by blocking one of many lattice lasers and exhibiting that the spectral line attributed to the state switching disappeared. The ensuing measured spectral line additionally matched the duo’s simulations and expectations primarily based on another microwave irradiation strategy.
–David Ehrenstein
David Ehrenstein is a Senior Editor for Physics Journal.
References
- R. Cardman and G. Raithel, “Driving alkali Rydberg transitions with a phase-modulated optical lattice,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 023201 (2023).
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