Quantum gas microscopy of dipolar atoms is a promising opportunity to expand upon previous quantum simulations of neutral atoms in optical lattices. Erbium atoms interact via the long-range magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, which leads to a variety of new many-body effects and strongly correlated phases that are currently unexplored in microscopes with only short-range interactions. In this thesis I will detail progress toward the construction of an erbium quantum gas microscope as well as the techniques we implemented to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of $8\times10^4$ atoms in under a second. These include the installation of a dual-stage magneto-optical trap, a stroboscopic optical dipole trap, as well as a tunable crossed optical dipole trap that allows for efficient evaporation of both bosonic and fermionic isotopes. I will also discuss the frequency stabilization systems we have implemented to produce laser linewidths of less than $1$ kHz for near-resonant laser cooling on narrow transitions and a custom, high NA reflective objective to be used as part of a high resolution imaging system. Finally, I will discuss the noise properties of charge-coupled devices and the photon counting techniques that are needed for having high fidelities while using fast imaging schemes.Quantum gas microscopy of dipolar atoms is a promising opportunity to expand upon previous quantum simulations of neutral atoms in optical lattices. Erbium atoms interact via the long-range magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, which leads to a variety of new many-body effects and strongly correlated phases that are currently unexplored in microscopes with only short-range interactions. In this thesis I will detail progress toward the construction of an erbium quantum gas microscope as well as the techniques we implemented to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of $8\times10^4$ atoms in under a second. These include the installation of a dual-stage magneto-optical trap, a stroboscopic optical dipole trap, as well as a tunable crossed optical dipole trap that allows for efficient evaporation of both bosonic and fermionic isotopes. I will also discuss the frequency stabilization systems we have implemented to produce laser linewidths of less than $1$ kHz for near-resonant laser cooling on narrow transitions and a custom, high NA reflective objective to be used as part of a high resolution imaging system. Finally, I will discuss the noise properties of charge-coupled devices and the photon counting techniques that are needed for having high fidelities while using fast imaging schemes.

Jan 20, 20211 citation

Quantum gas microscope

Jonathon I. Gillen, Waseem Bakr, Amy Peng +2 more

Bulletin of the American Physical SocietyMar 19, 20091 citation

Microscope objective for imaging atomic strontium with 0.63 micrometer resolution

Ivo H. A. Knottnerus, Sergey Pyatchenkov, O. Onishchenko +3 more

Imaging and manipulating individual atoms with submicrometer separation can be instrumental for quantum simulation of condensed matter Hamiltonians and quantum computation with neutral atoms. Here we present an open-source design of a microscope objective for atomic strontium, consisting solely of off-the-shelf lenses, that is diffraction-limited for 461 nm light. A prototype built with a simple stacking design is measured to have a resolution of 0.63(4) µm, which is in agreement with the predicted value. This performance, together with the near diffraction-limited performance for 532 nm light, makes this design useful for both quantum gas microscopes and optical tweezer experiments with strontium. Our microscope can easily be adapted to experiments with other atomic species such as erbium, ytterbium, and dysprosium, as with rubidium Rydberg atoms.Imaging and manipulating individual atoms with submicrometer separation can be instrumental for quantum simulation of condensed matter Hamiltonians and quantum computation with neutral atoms. Here we present an open-source design of a microscope objective for atomic strontium, consisting solely of off-the-shelf lenses, that is diffraction-limited for 461 nm light. A prototype built with a simple stacking design is measured to have a resolution of 0.63(4) µm, which is in agreement with the predicted value. This performance, together with the near diffraction-limited performance for 532 nm light, makes this design useful for both quantum gas microscopes and optical tweezer experiments with strontium. Our microscope can easily be adapted to experiments with other atomic species such as erbium, ytterbium, and dysprosium, as with rubidium Rydberg atoms.

arXiv:1906.07167Optics ExpressMar 17, 20206 citations

8\times10^4

atoms in under a second. These include the installation of a dual-stage magneto-optical trap, a stroboscopic optical dipole trap, as well as a tunable crossed optical dipole trap that allows for efficient evaporation of both bosonic and fermionic isotopes. I will also discuss the frequency stabilization systems we have implemented to produce laser linewidths of less than

1

kHz for near-resonant laser cooling on narrow transitions and a custom, high NA reflective objective to be used as part of a high resolution imaging system. Finally, I will discuss the noise properties of charge-coupled devices and the photon counting techniques that are needed for having high fidelities while using fast imaging schemes.