This thesis presents the experimental implementations towards the investigations of coherent spin-changing collisions in ultracold mixtures of sodium and lithium gases. The control and understanding of such spin dynamics constitutes the first step towards implementing lattice gauge theories in this experiment. For that purpose, the performance of the experimental setup was examined and improved, considering the course of the forthcoming experimental realizations. \nTo improve the spatial overlap between the atomic clouds of sodium and lithium, the vertical confinement of the crossed optical dipole trap has been increased. In addition, a versatile blue-detuned one-dimensional optical lattice has been implemented to confine both species in the same lattice site. Its characteristics and the experimental setup is described. For spin-changing collision investigations, control over the internal degrees of freedom of the atoms is crucial. We have implemented and described an actively stabilized offset magnetic field. Further, the control over the relative population between two Zeeman states of the sodium ground state is presented.
This thesis presents the experimental implementations towards the investigations of coherent spin-changing collisions in ultracold mixtures of sodium and lithium gases. The control and understanding of such spin dynamics constitutes the first step towards implementing lattice gauge theories in this experiment. For that purpose, the performance of the experimental setup was examined and improved, considering the course of the forthcoming experimental realizations. \nTo improve the spatial overlap between the atomic clouds of sodium and lithium, the vertical confinement of the crossed optical dipole trap has been increased. In addition, a versatile blue-detuned one-dimensional optical lattice has been implemented to confine both species in the same lattice site. Its characteristics and the experimental setup is described. For spin-changing collision investigations, control over the internal degrees of freedom of the atoms is crucial. We have implemented and described an actively stabilized offset magnetic field. Further, the control over the relative population between two Zeeman states of the sodium ground state is presented.
The creation of a gas of ultracold polar molecules with a high phase space density brings new possibilities beyond experiments with ultracold atomic gases. In particular, long-range, anisotropic, and tunable dipole-dipole interactions open the way for novel quantum gases, with applications including strongly correlated many-body systems, and ultracold chemistry. This thesis will present the final steps to complete control over both internal and external degrees of freedom of the molecule which allows us to control, and even completely suppress, the chemical reactions between molecules. First, the control over internal states has been achieved through coherent state transfer to the ro-vibronic ground state and coherent manipulations of the hyperfine and rotational states with microwave radiation. Second, external degrees of freedom are controlled by loading the gas into an optical lattice. With the molecules loaded into a one-dimensional lattice, the orientation of the molecular collisions is controlled by manipulating both internal (hyperfine states) and external (motional states in the direction of tight confinement) degrees of freedom. Most striking is that by preparing the molecules all in the lowest band of the lattice in the same internal state, the molecular collisions can only occur in a side-by-side" orientation, where the chemical reaction rate is suppressed by the repulsive dipole-dipole interactions. The chemical reaction can be suppressed completely by further constraining the motion in the trap in a strong 3D lattice. Here we see lifetimes longer than 20 s, limited by o-resonant light scattering. Finally, the ac polarizability of the molecules is explored and controlled. The different rotational states of the molecule have different polarizabilities and will experience a different trapping force in both the optical dipole trap or lattice. We show that there is a magic angle" between the quantization axis and the polarization of the trapping laser at which the polarizabilities of two different rotational states can be matched, eliminating dephasing and allowing for coherent manipulations between rotational states.
This thesis presents the investigation of the two-body scattering properties of cold atoms in \nsodium and lithium-sodium mixtures and their effects on the many body dynamics. Since both \nspecies are alkali atoms, the combined spin of both unpaired electrons can be either zero or one, \nproviding two different scattering channels. \nThe coupling of bound molecular states in these channels with the free atoms asymptote \ngives rise to the rich field of Feshbach resonance physics, where the interaction between the \nparticles can be controlled as an easily accessible experimental parameter. We have investigated \nthe Feshbach spectrum in the bosonic 7LiNa mixture and could confirm predictions based on \n6LiNa measurements, with a shift of the predicted spectrum by about 50 G. Also, the prospects \nof interaction tuning via Feshbach resonances were examined. \nThe difference of the scattering lengths of the electronic potentials also causes a coupling \nof atomic collisional channels, which can enable a spin exchange between the atoms. In this \nthesis, spin exchange processes have been studied in coherent oscillations in a thermal gas and \na Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium, as well as the evolution of this spinor gas into its ground \nstate. Preliminary studies of the heteronuclear spin exchange process in both the bosonic 7LiNa \nand in the fermionic-bosonic mixture 6LiNa are presented as well.
A cold atomic gas formed by two different species represents an intriguing system for a deeper understanding of atom-atom interactions at ultralow temperatures. We present experiments on a mixture of atomic lithium and cesium which are of particular interest regarding the formation of heteronuclear molecules on the one hand, and the prospects for sympathetic cooling of atomic gases through mutual thermalization on the other hand. A first series of experiments on interaction in presence of a near-resonant light field is performed in a two-species magneto-optical trap. The collisional properties of the lithium-cesium mixture are investigated through detailed analysis of trap-loss processes induced by the trap light. Photoassociation in an additional near-resonant laser field yields high-resolution spectra of the excited Cs_2 dimers, but shows no unambiguous indication of LiCs molecule formation. A second series of experiments on pure ground-state collisional properties utilizes an optical dipole trap formed by light that is detuned extremely far below atomic resonance (quasi-electrostatic trap). Storage times of many minutes are achieved in a particularly simple and versatile setup for both atomic species. Cooling of cesium through evaporation and thermalization by elastic collisions is observed. The evolution of temperature and particle number is compared with model simulations of evaporative cooling. Direct laser cooling of trapped cesium in the absolute energetic ground state is demonstrated. Homonuclear spin-changing collisions of ground-state cesium and lithium atoms are analyzed, and first evidence for pure ground-state collisions between atoms of different species is found. Based on the current achievements, prospects for future experiments are discussed. (orig.)
This Thesis describes new mechanisms for controlling elastic and inelastic collisions of ultracold atoms and molecules with static electromagnetic and laser fields. The dynamical properties of ultracold atoms are usually tuned in experiments by applying an external magnetic field to induce a Feshbach resonance. The work presented in this Thesis demonstrates the possibility of inducing and manipulating Feshbach resonances with electric fields. We discuss in detail the mechanisms of electric-field-induced resonances in ultracold mixtures of alkali metal atoms and demonstrate that electric fields may shift and split the magnetic resonances. We show that electric fields may spin up the collision complex of ultracold atoms and induce anisotropic scattering which may be exploited in experiments on many-body dynamics of ultracold gaseous mixtures. The mechanisms of electric-field-induced resonances described in this Thesis allow for two-dimensional control of inter-particle interactions, leading to total control over ultracold gases. To guide future experiments, we generate accurate interaction potentials for ultracold Li--Rb mixtures by fitting positions and widths of experimentally measured Feshbach resonances. Ultracold atomic and molecular gases can be confined by laser fields in one or two dimensions which produces an optical lattice of ultracold particles. We develop a multichannel scattering theory for collisions of atoms and molecules in two dimensions and explore the effects of the confining laser potential on inelastic and reactive collisions of ultracold atoms and molecules in a 1D optical lattice. We show that ultracold collisions can be controlled in a quasi-2D geometry by varying the orientation of a magnetic field with respect to the confinement plane normal and demonstrate that the threshold energy dependence of cross sections for inelastic collisions in an optical lattice can be tuned by varying the confining potential and the magnetic field. Our results show that applying laser confinement in one dimension may stabilize ultracold systems with large scattering lengths, which may open up interesting opportunities for studies of ultracold controlled chemistry and might lead to a new research direction of ultracold chemistry in restricted geometries.
This thesis reports on the experimental investigation of controlled spin dependent interactions in a sample of ultracold Rubidium atoms trapped in a periodic optical potential. In such a situation, the most basic interaction between only two atoms at one common potential well, forming a micro laboratory for this atom pair, can be investigated. Spin dependent interactions between the atoms can lead to an intriguing time evolution of the system. In this work, we present two examples of such spin interaction induced dynamics. First, we have been able to observe and control a coherent spin changing interaction. Second, we have \nachieved to examine and manipulate an interaction\ninduced time evolution of the relative phase of a spin 1/2-system, both in the case of particle pairs and in the more general case of N interacting particles. The first part of this thesis elucidates the spin-changing interaction mechanism underlying many fascinating effects resulting from interacting spins at ultracold temperatures. This process changes the spin states of two colliding particles, while preserving total magnetization. If initial and final states have almost equal energy, this process is resonant and leads to large amplitude\noscillations between different spin states. The measured coupling parameters of such a process allow to precisely infer atomic scattering length differences, that e.g. determine the nature of the magnetic ground state of the hyperfine states in Rubidium.\nMoreover, a method to tune the spin oscillations at will based on the AC-Zeeman effect has been implemented. This allowed us to use resonant spin changing \ncollisions as a quantitative and non-destructive particle pair probe in the optical lattice. This led to a series of experiments shedding light on the Bosonic superfluid to Mott insulator transition.\nIn a second series of experiments we have been able to coherently manipulate the interaction induced time evolution of the relative phase in an ensemble of spin 1/2-systems. For two particles, interactions can lead to an entanglement oscillation of the particle pair. For the general case of N interacting particles, the ideal time evolution leads to the creation of spin squeezed states and even Schrödinger cat states. In the experiment we have been able to control the underlying\ninteractions by a Feshbach resonance. For particle pairs we could directly observe the entanglement oscillations. For the many particle case we have been able to observe and reverse the interaction induced dispersion of the relative phase.\nThe presented results demonstrate how correlated spin states can be engineered through \ncontrol of atomic interactions. Moreover, the results point towards the possibility to simulate quantum\nmagnetism phenomena with ultracold atoms in optical traps, and to realize and analyze many novel quantum spin states which have not been experimentally realized so far.
In this thesis, we study theoretically and in experimentally the properties of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates with antiferromagnetic interactions realized in the ultra-cold sodium gases confined in optical dipole traps. We present in detail how to realize, diagnose and control the spinor Bose-Einstein condensates in our experiment. In order to describe the condensate, a mean-field theory is first adopted. This theory predicts a phase transition when changing the magnetic field B. The predictions of the mean-field theory agree very well with most of our experimental results, including the values of the critical magnetic field Bc, asymptotic values of n0 (relative atom number in mF=0 state) at large B and the phase diagram of n0. However, for small magnetization and small magnetic fields, we find abnormally large fluctuations (super-Poissonian) of n0. In order to describe these large fluctuations, we develop a full quantum statistical description for the spinor condensate at finite temperature. To describe uncondensed thermal atoms (also present in the same trap), we use the ``semi-ideal" Hartree-Fock approximation to deal with the interactions between the condensate atoms and the thermal ones. The experimental results lead us to introduce two kinds of temperatures, the ``spin temperature" Ts and the ``kinetic temperature" Tk with Ts≪Tk, characterizing respectively the fluctuaitons of the condensate spin and the thermal gas. We conclude that the system is reaching a quasi-equilibrium states, where different degrees of freedom reach equilibrium by separate mechanisms but where the mutual thermalization does not occur over the lifetime of the cloud.