Now in Physical Review Research!
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. Our work is now published in Physical Review Research.
We load the atoms into the optical lattice and prepare them initially in one of the 20 different spin states encoded in the Zeeman levels of the hyperfine manifold of the ground state. We are able to control the rate of the spin diffusion, which depends on the effective interaction strength between the atoms, either by preparing different initial spin states or via the orientation of the magnetic dipoles. Further, we demonstrate the capability to switch the dynamics on and off in a fast manner by means of optical control. Our experimental observations are benchmarked by an advanced theoretical work.