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A Powerful Ion Microscope Developed to Study Quantum Gases

In a recent arXiv paper, which is accepted in Physical Review X, University of Stuttgart researchers present an ion microscope excellently suited for spatially and temporally resolved studies in large volume bulk gases. Credit: Celina Brandes

University of Stuttgart researchers developed a particle-based imaging approach that enables the spatially and temporally resolved investigation of vastly different systems such as ground-state samples, Rydberg ensembles, or cold ions immersed in quantum gases.

The microscope features an excellent time resolution allowing for both the study of dynamic processes and 3D imaging. In contrast to most quantum gas microscopes, this imaging scheme offers an enormous depth of field and is, therefore, not restricted to two-dimensional systems.

The researchers plan to use their new and powerful tool to extend our studies of cold ion-atom hybrid systems and intend to push the collision energies in these systems to the ultracold regime. Using Rydberg molecules to initialize ion-atom collisions, they envision the imaging of individual scattering events taking place in the quantum regime.

Ion Microscope Optical Lattice

Ion microscope image of a one-dimensional optical lattice with a spacing of 532nm. The inset (i) shows a magnification of the marked rectangular region revealing the spatial resolution power of the instrument. Credit: University of Stuttgart

Reference: “A pulsed ion microscope to probe quantum gases” by C. Veit, N. Zuber, O. A. Herrera-Sancho, V. S. V. Anasuri, T. Schmid, F. Meinert, R. Löw and T. Pfau, Accepted, Physical Review X.
arXiv: 2008.08512

Source: SciTechDaily