Hong-Ou-Mandel atom interferometry in tunnel-coupled optical tweezers

ORAL

Abstract

We present recent work in which we demonstrate near-complete control over all the internal and external degrees of freedom of laser-cooled $^{87}$Rb atoms trapped in sub-micron optical tweezers. Utilizing this control for two atoms in two optical tweezers, we implement a massive-particle analog of the Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer where atom tunneling plays the role of the photon beamsplitter. The interferometer is used to probe the effect of atomic indistinguishability on the two-atom dynamics for a variety of initial conditions. These experiments demonstrate the viability of the optical tweezer platform for bottom-up generation of low-entropy quantum systems and pave the way toward the direct observation of quantum dynamics in more complex finite-sized systems.

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Authors

  • Brian Lester

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Adam Kaufman

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Collin Reynolds

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Michael Wall

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Michael Foss-Feig

    • Joint Quantum Institute and the National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Kaden Hazzard

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Ana Maria Rey

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado

  • Cindy Regal

    • JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado