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arXiv · 2408.15359

Quantifying Light-assisted Collisions in Optical Tweezers Across the Hyperfine Spectrum

Steven K. Pampel·Matteo Marinelli·Mark O. Brown·José P. D'Incao·Cindy A. Regal
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Abstract

We investigate the role of hyperfine structure in resonant-dipole interactions between two atoms cotrapped in an optical tweezer. Two-body loss rates from light-assisted collisions (LACs) are measured across the $^{87}$Rb hyperfine spectrum and connected to properties of molecular photoassociation potentials via a semiclassical model. To obtain our results, we introduce an imaging technique that leverages repulsive LACs to detect two atoms in a trap, thereby circumventing parity constraints in tweezers. Our findings offer key insights for exploiting hyperfine structure in laser-induced collisions to control cold atoms and molecules in a broad range of quantum science applications.

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Steven K. Pampel, Matteo Marinelli, Mark O. Brown, José P. D'Incao, Cindy A. Regal. 2024-08-27. Quantifying Light-assisted Collisions in Optical Tweezers Across the Hyperfine Spectrum. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.013202

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