Research projects

Quantum light-matter interfaces are an ideal platform for quantum technologies, with applications such as memories for quantum communications, photon-photon gates for quantum information, atomic clocks for metrology and dissipative quantum systems for quantum simulation. The goal of this project is to improve these interfaces using cooperative effects in light-matter interaction, which appear when emitters are at distances less than the wavelength of light, using ordered formations of ultracold atoms.

The main results of the project in 2022 have been:  

(i) The development of an experimental method to double the number of atoms trapped in strontium magneto-optical traps [publication in preparation]. The obtention of a Bose-Einstein condensate of strontium-84 [publication in preparation]. The development of the last stages of the new experimental setup built entirely during the project (optical lattice and microscope objective). We expect to perform the first ordered formations of atoms during the first quarter of 2023.

(ii) The investigation of atomic states dressed with radiofrequency electromagnetic fields [Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 013201, (2022)] and optical fields [Nature 608, 293-297 (2022), Phys. Rev. Research 4, 043088 (2022)] in another experimental setup. This has allowed us to gain the necessary experience to generate optical lattices with a lattice spacing below the diffraction limit, which opens up new possibilities for quantum optics with ordered formations of atoms.