"Atoms in highly excited states, known as Rydberg atoms, interact strongly via dipole-dipole interactions. Our lab found that when exciting Rydberg states near a Föster resonance, these dipole-dipole interactions mediate the production of an entangled trio of Rydberg atoms. This unique three-body system has potential applications in quantum simulation and multi-qubit quantum gates, assuming it has a long enough coherence time to allow for quantum operations.
"As one of the few labs capable of producing coherent evolution in a bulk gas, we are focusing on building a “toolbox” of control mechanisms for this state. We have demonstrated that background dipole-dipole interactions have a large impact on coherence, as coherence times decrease from 200ns to 50ns as interaction strength increases. I am investigating the impact of inhomogeneous (or position-dependent) broadening on the coherence time of our system. We hypothesize that undoing this source of noise with the spin-echo pulse sequence will increase coherence times."
Join us on Friday, Sept. 12, for the first of this year's honors talks presented by Dominick Frost '26, a physics student pursuing honors this year. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. Come and support your fellow physics classmates. We hope to see you there!