Atomic and molecular interactions with photons articles within Nature Physics

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  • Review Article |

    Cold and ultracold molecules have emerged in the past two decades as a central topic in quantum gas studies. This Review charts the recent advances in cooling and quantum state control techniques that are shaping this evolving field.

    • Tim Langen
    • , Giacomo Valtolina
    •  & Jun Ye

  • News & Views |

    Interacting emitters are the fundamental building blocks of quantum optics and quantum information devices. Pairs of organic molecules embedded in a crystal can become permanently strongly interacting when they are pumped with intense laser light.

    • Stuart J. Masson

  • Article |

    Raman sideband cooling is a method used to prepare atoms and ions in their vibrational ground state. This technique has now been extended to molecules trapped in optical tweezer arrays.

    • Yukai Lu
    • , Samuel J. Li
    •  & Lawrence W. Cheuk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Addressing optical transitions at the level of a single site is crucial to unlock the potential of quantum computers and atomic clocks. A scheme based on atom rearrangement now demonstrates such control with demonstrable metrological benefits.

    • Adam L. Shaw
    • , Ran Finkelstein
    •  & Manuel Endres

  • News & Views |

    Precise frequencies of nearly forbidden transitions have been ascertained in the simplest molecule, the molecular hydrogen ion. This work offers a new perspective on precision measurements and fundamental physical tests with molecular spectroscopy.

    • Xin Tong

  • News & Views |

    A promising pathway towards the laser cooling of a molecule containing a radioactive atom has been identified. The unique structure of such a molecule means that it can act as a magnifying lens to probe fundamental physics.

    • Steven Hoekstra

  • Article |

    Generation of entanglement in quantum computers stems from the native interactions between qubits, which are usually restricted to the pairwise limit. A method to control three- and four-body interactions has now been demonstrated with trapped ions.

    • Or Katz
    • , Lei Feng
    •  & Marko Cetina

  • News & Views |

    Laser cooling of neutral and positively charged ions is well mastered, but cooling of anions remains largely unexplored. Now, laser-induced evaporative cooling of negatively charged molecules has been achieved.

    • Daniel Comparat
    •  & Hans Lignier

  • Article |

    A common technique to cool down molecular ions is through collisions with a buffer gas, but that is limited by the achievable temperature of the medium. Now, an experiment demonstrates the evaporative cooling of molecular ions below previously reached temperatures.

    • Jonas Tauch
    • , Saba Z. Hassan
    •  & Matthias Weidemüller

  • Article |

    Engineering the frequency spectrum of systems of multiple quantum emitters is the key for many quantum technologies. A cavity quantum electrodynamics experiment now demonstrates the real-time frequency modulation of cavity-protected polaritons.

    • Mohamed Baghdad
    • , Pierre-Antoine Bourdel
    •  & Romain Long

  • News & Views |

    Controlling the response of a material to light at the single-atom level is a key factor for many quantum technologies. An experiment now shows how to control the optical properties of an atomic array by manipulating the state of a single atom.

    • Rivka Bekenstein
    •  & Susanne F. Yelin

  • News & Views |

    Boson sampling is a benchmark problem for photonic quantum computers and a potential avenue towards quantum advantage. A scheme to realize a boson sampler based on the vibrational modes in a chain of trapped ions instead has now been demonstrated.

    • Norbert M. Linke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The realization of efficient light–matter interfaces is important for many quantum technologies. An experiment now shows how to coherently switch the collective optical properties of an array of quantum emitters by driving a single ancilla atom to a Rydberg state.

    • Kritsana Srakaew
    • , Pascal Weckesser
    •  & Johannes Zeiher

  • Article |

    Strongly driven light sources have become useful in many ways but are limited to classical emission. A quantum-optical theory now shows how non-classical states of light can be achieved from strongly-driven many-body systems, for example, non-coherent and correlated high-harmonic generation.

    • Andrea Pizzi
    • , Alexey Gorlach
    •  & Ido Kaminer

  • News & Views |

    Circular Rydberg states provide an ideal resource for large-scale quantum computing and simulation. These circular states can be controlled using coherent optical pulses, providing a route to programmable quantum hardware.

    • Jonathan Pritchard

  • Letter |

    The capabilities of optically accessible Rydberg levels are limited by their lifetime. An experiment demonstrates how to detect and manipulate long-lived circular states through the coupling of valence electrons in alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms.

    • Andrea Muni
    • , Léa Lachaud
    •  & Sébastien Gleyzes

  • Review Article |

    Optical box traps create a potential landscape for quantum gases that is close to the homogeneous theoretical ideal. This Review of box trapping methods highlights the breakthroughs in experimental many-body physics that have followed their development.

    • Nir Navon
    • , Robert P. Smith
    •  & Zoran Hadzibabic

  • Article |

    The hyperfine states of ultracold polar molecules are a strong candidate for storing quantum information. Identifying and eliminating all detectable causes of decoherence has extended the qubit coherence time beyond 5.6 s in RbCs molecules.

    • Philip D. Gregory
    • , Jacob A. Blackmore
    •  & Simon L. Cornish

  • Article |

    Self-referenced attosecond streaking enables in situ measurements of Auger emission in atomic neon excited by femtosecond pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser with subfemtosecond time resolution and despite the jitter inherent to X-ray free-electron lasers.

    • D. C. Haynes
    • , M. Wurzer
    •  & A. L. Cavalieri

  • News & Views |

    Manipulating weakly bound helium dimers with ultrafast laser pulses reveals their quantum behaviour. This method opens a route towards studying the low-energy dynamics of other exotic and fragile quantum states.

    • Daniel Rolles

  • News & Views |

    When molecular model systems, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are ionized by ultrashort extreme ultraviolet pulses, their relaxation path proceeds via electron–phonon scattering, linking molecules to typical solid-state matter behaviour.

    • Laura Cattaneo

  • Article |

    Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen entanglement between a millimetre-size mechanical membrane oscillator and a collective atomic spin oscillator formed by an ensemble of caesium atoms is achieved, although the two systems are spatially separated by one metre.

    • Rodrigo A. Thomas
    • , Michał Parniak
    •  & Eugene S. Polzik

  • Article |

    High entanglement fidelity between neutral atoms is achieved using highly excited Rydberg states. The unique electron structure provided by alkaline-earth atoms makes it a promising platform for various quantum-technology-based applications.

    • Ivaylo S. Madjarov
    • , Jacob P. Covey
    •  & Manuel Endres

  • Article |

    Ionization delays from ethyl iodide around a giant dipole resonance are measured by attosecond streaking spectroscopy. Using theoretical knowledge of the iodine atom as a reference, the contribution of the functional ethyl group can be obtained.

    • Shubhadeep Biswas
    • , Benjamin Förg
    •  & Matthias F. Kling

  • Letter |

    A passive, heralded and high-fidelity quantum memory network node has been realized, which connects simultaneously to two quantum channels provided by orthogonally aligned optical fibre cavities coupled with a single atom.

    • Manuel Brekenfeld
    • , Dominik Niemietz
    •  & Gerhard Rempe

  • Article |

    Following an impulsive laser excitation of a single molecule, a dispersed vibrational wave-packet is partially rephased by a second pulse, and a wave-packet echo is observed. This wave-packet echo probes ultrafast intramolecular processes in the isolated molecule.

    • Junjie Qiang
    • , Ilia Tutunnikov
    •  & Jian Wu

  • Letter |

    Experiments with two counter-propagating laser beams report the observation that the photon momentum is shared between the electron and parent ion in strong-field ionization, which results from the photon’s magnetic field acting on the electron.

    • A. Hartung
    • , S. Eckart
    •  & R. Dörner

  • Letter |

    The realization of a molecular lattice clock based on vibrations in diatomic molecules is reported with coherence times lasting over tens of milliseconds, which is enabled by the use of a state-insensitive magic lattice trap.

    • S. S. Kondov
    • , C.-H. Lee
    •  & T. Zelevinsky

  • Article |

    A molecule placed in an optical microcavity behaves as a model two-level quantum system, as demonstrated via laser extinction and interaction with single photons.

    • Daqing Wang
    • , Hrishikesh Kelkar
    •  & Vahid Sandoghdar

  • Letter |

    Strong and long-range interactions between Rydberg states of neutral atoms can be mapped to light via electromagnetically induced transparency, realizing a photon–photon quantum gate for quantum communications and networking.

    • Daniel Tiarks
    • , Steffen Schmidt-Eberle
    •  & Stephan Dürr

  • Article |

    A highly precise measurement of an optical transition in the helium atom has been obtained using state-of-the-art techniques. The result provides a stringent test of QED theory at low energy levels with tools of atomic physics.

    • R. J. Rengelink
    • , Y. van der Werf
    •  & W. Vassen

  • Letter |

    Light fields of energy comparable to the Coloumb field that binds valence electrons in atoms generate states where nearly free electrons oscillate in the laser field. These are now shown to exist in rare gases, acting as gain for laser filamentation.

    • Mary Matthews
    • , Felipe Morales
    •  & Misha Ivanov

  • Letter |

    When an electron with specific orbit — either clockwise or anticlockwise — in a rare gas atom is selectively ionized, the remaining ion will possess a stationary ring current, which can be probed in a time-delayed second ionization step.

    • Sebastian Eckart
    • , Maksim Kunitski
    •  & Reinhard Dörner

  • Letter |

    Cavity polaritons whose matter component is composed of highly excited Rydberg atoms are shown to act as a zero-dimensional quantum dot. Trapping 150 polaritons led to the observation of blockaded photon transport.

    • Ningyuan Jia
    • , Nathan Schine
    •  & Jonathan Simon

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