A talk given at the 2011 meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society, summarizing recent and exciting results in AMO physics being presented at the meeting.

1. What’s So Interesting About AMO Physics?
Chad Orzel
Department of Physics
and Astronomy
Union College
Schenectady, NY
http://slideshare.net/orzelc

3. Why This Talk?
2001 DAMOP/ DAMP Meeting
3-4 parallel sessions
270 talks, 293 posters
2011 DAMOP Meeting
6-7 parallel sessions
477 talks, 548 posters
http://slideshare.net/orzelc

4. Categories
Five rough groups of invited sessions:
I) Ultra-Cold Matter
Laser cooling, Bose-Einstein Condensation, optical lattices
II) Extreme Lasers
Ultra-fast lasers (femto-, atto-second), ultra-intense lasers
III) Quantum Phenomena
Quantum measurement, information, communications
IV) “Traditional” AMO Physics
Atomic and molecular collisions, spectroscopy
V) Precision Measurement
Fundamental symmetry tests, atomic clocks

5. Thesis Prize
Session C6: Tuesday 6/14, 2PM, Room A706 (This room, after lunch)
Novel Systems and Methods for Quantum Communication,
Quantum Computation, and Quantum Simulation (I, III)
Alexey Gorshkov
Bright Attosecond Soft and Hard X-ray Supercontinua (II)
Tenio Popmintchev
Many-body physics with ultracold bosons in 1D geometry (I)
Elmar Haller
First practical application of quantum weak measurements,
used to perform the first experimental investigations of the (III)
Spin Hall Effect of Light
Onur Hosten

6. “Hot Topics”
Session U6: Friday 6/17 10:30 AM Room A706
Atom Trap Trace Analysis (V, I)
Zheng-Tian Lu
Improved Measurement of the Electron EDM
(V)
E.A. Hinds
Sequential Double Ionization: The Timing of Release (II, IV)
A.N. Pfeiffer
14-qubit entanglement: creation and coherence
Julio Barreiro (III, I)

7. Ultra-Cold Matter
Invited Talk Sessions:
H4: Focus: Phases of Strongly Interacting Cold Gases
Wed:
J4: Atom Circuits
M6: Focus: In-situ Imaging of Ultracold Atomic Gases
Thurs: N6: Ultracold Molecules
P6: Few-body Ultracold Systems
T2: Non-Equilibrium and Cooperativity in Ultracold Systems
Fri: T6: Focus: Synthetic Gauge Fields in Ultracold Systems
U4: Cold Rydberg Gases

8. Ultracold Gases
Laser Cooling
Use light forces to slow atomic motion
(neutral atoms, ions)
Collect large numbers of atoms in MOT
T~1-100 µK (0.1-10 neV)
Na MOT, NIST
Evaporative Cooling
Remove high-energy atoms from sample
Increase in phase-space density
Bose-Einstein Condensation at Tc ~ 1nK
First Rb BEC, JILA, 1995

9. BEC in Optical Lattices
Use interference/holography to make periodic potential for cold atoms
Depths ~1-100 ER
Competition between
tunneling and collisions
ˆ =a + 1 U ∑ n (n − 1)
H − J ∑ ai† ˆ j
ˆ ˆi ˆi
i, j 2 i
Tunneling between
lattice sites
On-site
Interactions
Phase transition: from: I. Bloch, Nature Physics 1, 23 - 30 (2005)
doi:10.1038/nphys138
Superfluid  Mott Insulator

10. In-Situ Lattice Imaging
Combine 2-D optical lattice with high-resolution imaging
Image individual lattice sites
From J.F. Sherson et al Nature 467, 68 (2010)
doi:10.1038/nature09378

11. In-Situ Imaging
Monitor phase transition through site occupation
From W.S. Bakr et al, Science 329 547-550 (2010)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1192368

12. Single-Site Control
From C. Weitenburg et al., Nature 471, 319 (2011)
doi:10.1038/nature09827

13. Extreme Lasers
Invited Talk Sessions:
Tues: C2: Ultrafast and Intense X-Rays
Wed: J6: Attosecond Spectroscopy
M4: Focus: Recollision Physics
Thurs:
P2: Focus: Time-resolved Spectroscopy with HHG and FEL
Fri: T4: Intense Field Physics

14. High Harmonic Generation
1) Intense fs pulse ionizes
target gas
2) Laser field accelerates
electrons
3) Electron recombination From Popmintchev et al.
DOI: 10.1038/Nphoton.2010.256
produces EUV/ X-Ray light
attosecond duration
From Chen et al. PRL 105, 173901 (2010)

15. Pump-Probe Spectroscopy
Intense IR pulse
1) Creates as EUV pulse
2) Excites target gas
Delay EUV pulse, measure
absorption, photoemission
 Follow atomic, molecular
dynamics on sub-fs
time scales
J6: Attosecond Spectroscopy
E. Goulielmakis et al Nature 466, 739 (2010)
doi:10.1038/nature09212

16. Ultrafast Dynamics
Valence Electron Motion: Delay in photoemission of electron:
E. Goulielmakis et al Nature 466, 739 (2010) M. Schultze, et al. Science 328, 1658 (2010);
doi:10.1038/nature09212 DOI: 10.1126/science.1189401

17. Quantum Phenomena
Invited Talk Sessions:
H2: Focus: Advances in NV Centers
Wed:
K6: Advances in Quantum Communications
N4: Quantum Measurement and Control of Spin Ensembles
Thurs:
P4: Focus: Progress in Cavity Opto-Mechanics

18. Quantum Communications
Qubits: 2-state systems
(spin-1/2, photon polarization, atomic levels)
| Ψ > α | 0 > +β | 1 >
=
Arbitrary superposition of 0 and 1 1
0
 new possibilities for computation
Key issues: Decoherence  Must preserve superposition
Scalability  Must be able to add qubits
Quantum communication  Connect qubits in different places

19. Entanglement and Communication
Entangled state:
State of one particle determined
by state of other
| Ψ= α | 0 >1| 0 > 2 + β |1 >1|1 > 2
12 >
1 1
0 0
Correlation is non-local
Does not depend on distance between particles, measurement time
Quantum correlation stronger than possible classically
 Bell Inequalities
Entanglement provides resource for communicating arbitrary states
 Quantum Teleportation

20. Storage and Transmission
Store qubit in spin state of cold atoms
Convert to telecom wavelength S=2.64±0.12
100m optical fiber, convert back 5-σ Bell violation
Dudin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 260502 (2010)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.260502

21. Free-Space Teleportation
Send arbitrary state 16 km through free space, 87% fidelity
X. M. Jin et al Nature Photonics 4, 376 (2010)
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2010.87

22. “Traditional” AMO Physics
Invited Talk Sessions:
Tues: C1: Positron-Matter Interactions and Antihydrogen
H6: Advances in Gaseous Electronics
Wed:
K1: Focus: Recent Advances in Collision Studies
M1: Focus: Photoionization Spectroscopy
Thurs:
N6: AMO Science for Laboratory and
Astrophysical Environments
Fri: T1: Focus: Electronic, Atomic, and Molecular
Collision Studies

23. “Traditional” AMO
Spectroscopy, charged particle collisions, photoionization
Critically important for atmospheric and astrophysical processes
N6: AMO Science for Laboratory and Astrophysical
Environments
H6.00001 : Why isn't the atmosphere completely ionized?
Thomas Miller, Boston College and AFRL
From H. Kreckel et al. Science 329, 69 (2010)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1187191

24. Trapped Antihydrogen
Antiprotons, positrons combined in trap
Antihydrogen formed, trapped for 1000s
ALPHA Collaboration, Nature Physics (2011) doi:10.1038/nphys2025

25. Antihydrogen Beam
Cusp trap for efficient extraction
of spin-polarized beam
Goal of precision microwave
spectroscopy
Y. Enomoto et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 243401 (2010)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.243401

26. Precision Measurement
Invited Talk Sessions:
Wed: J2: Fundamental Symmetry Tests
Fri: U6: Hot Topics
Atom Trap Trace Analysis
Zheng-Tian Lu
Improved Measurement of the Electron EDM
E.A. Hinds

27. Proton Size
Laser spectroscopy of
muonic hydrogen
Lamb shift
Proton 4% smaller than
CODATA value!!!
Pohl et al. Nature 466, 213 (2010)
doi:10.1038/nature09250

28. Everyday Relativity
Trapped Al+ ion “quantum logic” clocks
Measure relativistic shifts due to ion motion, elevation
Time dilation for v<10m/s 33cm change in elevation
Chou et al. Science 329, 1630 (2010)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1192720

29. What’s So Interesting About AMO
Physics?
I) Ultracold atoms allow studies of superfluids, phase transitions
with in-situ single-site monitoring
II) Ultrafast lasers and HHG allow studies of atomic and molecular
dynamics on femto- and atto-second time scales
III) Quantum communication systems allow sharing and maniuplation
of quantum information over long distances
IV) Understanding of charged-particle interactions allow improved
astrophysical models, creation of antimatter
V) Ultra-precise laser spectroscopy allows laboratory tests of
fundamental symmetry, searches for new physics

30. Undergraduate Institutions in DAMOP
Reception
Wed., June 15
(tomorrow)
5:30-7:00 pm
Room L508
For students,
faculty, and
potential/future
faculty at
undergraduate
institutions

31. What’s So Interesting About AMO
Physics?
I) Ultracold atoms allow studies of superfluids, phase transitions
with in-situ single-site monitoring
II) Ultrafast lasers and HHG allow studies of atomic and molecular
dynamics on femto- and atto-second time scales
III) Quantum communication systems allow sharing and maniuplation
of quantum information over long distances
IV) Understanding of charged-particle interactions allow improved
astrophysical models, creation of antimatter
V) Ultra-precise laser spectroscopy allows laboratory tests of
fundamental symmetry, searches for new physics