Coherence freeze in an optical lattice investigated via pump-probe spectroscopy

Abstract

Motivated by our observation of fast echo decay and a surprising coherence freeze, we have developed a pump-probe spectroscopy technique for vibrational states of ultracold ${}^{85}$Rb atoms in an optical lattice to gain information about the memory dynamics of the system. We use pump-probe spectroscopy to monitor the time-dependent changes of frequencies experienced by atoms and to characterize the probability distribution of these frequency trajectories. We show that the inferred distribution, unlike a naive microscopic model of the lattice, correctly predicts the main features of the observed echo decay.

4 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Direct observation of Anderson localization of matter-waves in a controlled disorder
• Statistical applications of the multivariate skew-normal distribution
• Controlled exchange interaction between pairs of neutral atoms in an optical lattice
• Spin-echo of a single electron spin in a quantum dot
• Efficient vibrational state coupling in an optical tilted-washboard potential via multiple spatial translations and application to pulse echo