Center for Ultracold Atoms and Quantum Gases, IExP and IQOQI, Innsbruck
ERBIUM NEWS
Now in PRL! We created a novel type of dipolar system made of two ultracold bosonic dipolar atoms bounded into a molecules. This work is the result of a combined experimental and theoretical effort between our group, the cold collisions group at LAC in France, and the theory group at Temple University (USA). [more]
ERBIUM NEWS
Now in Science! In the presence of isotropic interactions, the Fermi surface of an ultracold Fermi gas is spherical. Introducing anisotropic interactions can deform it. This effect is subtle and challenging to observe experimentally. We report the observation of such a Fermi surface deformation in a degenerate dipolar Fermi gas of erbium atoms. The deformation is caused by the interplay between strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction and the Pauli exclusion principle. We demonstrate the many-body nature of the effect and its tunability with the Fermi energy. Our observation provides a basis for future studies on anisotropic many-body phenomena in normal and superfluid phases. [more]
ERBIUM NEWS
We have studied the scattering behavior of ultracold Er atoms and observed an enormous number of Fano-Feshbach scattering resonances and demonstrate high correlation in the spectra, underlying chaotic scattering between the particles. This work, now published in NATURE, is a joint effort between our group, John L. Bohn from JILA (Boulder, Colorado), and the team of Svetlana Kotochigova at Temple University (USA). Nice media coverage (in italian) from the MEDIA INAF. [more]
ERBIUM NEWS
We report on the creation of the first degenerate dipolar Fermi gas of erbium atoms. We force evaporative cooling in a fully spin-polarized sample down to temperatures as low as 0.2 times the Fermi temperature. The strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction enables elastic collisions between identical fermions even in the zero-energy limit. The measured elastic scattering cross section agrees well with the predictions from the dipolar scattering theory, which follow a universal scaling law depending only on the dipole moment and on the atomic mass. Our approach to quantum degeneracy proceeds with very high cooling efficiency and provides large atomic densities, and it may be extended to various dipolar systems. [more]
ERBIUM NEWS
We report on the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation of erbium atoms and on the observation of magnetic Feshbach resonances at low magnetic fields. By means of evaporative cooling in an optical dipole trap, we produce pure condensates of Er168, containing up to 7×104 atoms. Feshbach spectroscopy reveals an extraordinary rich loss spectrum with six loss resonances already in a narrow magnetic-field range up to 3 G. Finally, we demonstrate the application of a low-field Feshbach resonance to produce a tunable dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate and we observe its characteristic d-wave collapse. [more]
In joint theoretical and experimental work with our theory colleagues A.-M. Rey (JILA) and B. Zhu (ITAMP) we investigate dipolar induced magnetization-conserving spin exchange dynamics with fermionic Er in a 3D optical lattice
The ERBIUM lab
In a combined theory and experimental work, we study the elementary excitations of trapped dipolar quantum gases crossing from regular superfluid to supersolid.
We have created for the first time a dipolar quantum mixture by combining two highly magnetic atomic species, Erbium and Dysprosium.
In collaboration with our theory collaborators from Innsbruck and Hannover, we have observed for the first time so-called roton quasiparticles in an ultracold bosonic gas of erbium atoms.
…we work with highly magnetic Erbium and Dysprosium atoms, which we cool to Nanokelvin temperatures in oder to explore the fascinating physics of the quantum world.
All our experiments are carried out at pressures of 10^(-11) mbar. In order to achieve these ultrahigh vacuums, carefully designed chambers need to be machined and assembled.
In order to trap and cool Erbium and Dysprosium in magneto optical traps, we use one of their narrow-linewidth transitions. These transitions need yellow laser light for Erbium and red one for Dysprosium.
In order to investigate quamtumphysics, we need high power lasers to trap atoms. In our experiments we utilise for example green light to realise an optical lattice in which the atoms can be arranged on a periodic crystal structure.
Yes, it started like this with our optical table arriving under the snow…
The group, led by Francesca Ferlaino, is located at the Institute for Experimental Physics (IExP) of the University of Innsbruck and at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.