Er-Dy LAB

The Er-Dy LAB focuses on many-body quantum phenomena in a dipolar quantum mixture of two highly magnetic lanthanides, Erbium and Dysprosium.

The designing process of the experimental apparatus started in late 2014 and several concepts have been developed in collaboration with our ERBIUM Team and the Er-Team at Harvard University led by Markus Greiner.

Er-Dy mixtures

In 2018, we produced the first quantum degenerate dipolar mixture of Erbium and Dysprosium!!

This two rare-earth species are highly magnetic with a magnetic moment of 7µ_B and 10µ_Bfor Er and Dy respectively. A crucial aspect is that the have very similar atomic properties such as melting point, mass and the optical spectrum. The Er-Dy LAB is able to either operate on a single species (Er or Dy) or to produce dipolar imbalanced Bose-Bose, Bose-Fermi and Fermi-Fermi Er-Dy mixtures.

A microscope for dipolar atoms

A quantum gas microscope is an optical system that allows to image single atoms in an optical lattice in situ. This conceptually simple, yet technologically demanding technique makes it possible to directly study the interactions between atoms in periodic potentials, a scenario which is only possible to simulate numerically for very limited system sizes. In contrast to other groups, we are aiming to realize such a microscope with atoms featuring a large, permanent magnetic dipole moment. The inter-atomic dipole-dipole interaction adds a new term to the Hamiltonian describing the ensemble, and therefore allows to investigate a whole new class of quantum systems. The behavior of the system will critically depend on the interplay between the different interaction terms, whose magnitude and direction dependence may be tuned experimentally over a wide range. Thus, a large variety of interesting quantum systems can be simulated and investigated.

A full list of the Er-Dy Lab Publications can be found here

Interested in joining us? Check out here.

Lab news

Inter-species interactions in an Er-Dy condensate

Now published as an editors' suggestion in PRA, we present a first study of the influence of the dipole-dipole interaction on the total inter-species interaction in our erbium-dysprosium mixture, in collaboration with M. Modugno from the University of the Basque Country.

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Innizer Prize for Francesca Ferlaino

Francesca has been awarded the Cardinal Innitzer Prize for Natural Sciences 2021 last weekend in Vienna for her outstanding achievements in the field of ultracold quantum gases. Her pioneering work with lathanoid atoms has been internationally groundbreaking in this field.

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Winter school applications open

Applications have now opened for the Introductory Course on Ultracold Quantum Gases 2022 winter school. This will take place in Innsbruck between the 9th and 11th February 2022.

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Goodbye to Matthew

Farewell to Matthew Norcia who after an incredible two years here is moving back to Boulder (US). We wish you all the best for your next scientific adventure!

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Our 2D Supersolid now in Nature!

Quantum matter can be solid and fluid at the same time – a situation known as supersolidity. Researchers led by Italian quantum physicist Francesca Ferlaino have now created for the first time this fascinating property along two dimensions. They now report in the journal Nature on the realization of supersolidity

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Two-dimensional supersolidity in a circular trap

Supersolids go circular! Our Er-Dy and theory labs collaborate together to realise supersolidity in round traps. We also investigate effective formation protocols for two-dimensional supersolids, and explore the rich excitation spectra of these objects.

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