Er-Dy Team 2023

Er-Dy Team 2023

Vortices in a dysprosium gas

Vortices in a dysprosium gas

By stirring the magnetic field which polarizes the atoms in a dysprosium condensate, we were able to generate vortices–tiny quantum tornadoes–in a dipolar gas for the first time!

Supersolid in a new dimension

Supersolid in a new dimension

A two-dimensional supersolid system

Phase coherence in out-of-equilibrium supersolid states of ultracold dipolar atoms

Phase coherence in out-of-equilibrium supersolid states of ultracold dipolar atoms

By quenching the contact interaction, it is possible to destroy the phase coherence in a dipolar supersolid. However, the supersolidity is “repaired” when reversing the dephasing process.  

Study of interspecies Feshbach resonances published in PRA

Study of interspecies Feshbach resonances published in PRA

A key step in creating controlled interactions in dipolar quantum mixtures is the characterization of interspecies Feshbach resonances.

First Dipolar Quantum Mixtures!

First Dipolar Quantum Mixtures!

We have created for the first time a dipolar quantum mixture by combining two highly magnetic atomic species, Erbium and Dysprosium.

Double MOT …

Double MOT …

… of cold erbium (yellow) and dysprosium (red) atoms. © IQOQI

Laser setup …

Laser setup …

… for slowing and trapping erbium and dysprosium atoms. © IQOQI

The main vacuum chamber …

The main vacuum chamber …

… where trap and furthermore cool erbium and dysprosium down to degeneracy. © IQOQI

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 7µB and 10µB for 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
Philipp and Gianmaria held their defenses for their PhD thesis and are now officially Doctors of Philosophy. Congratulations and we wish you all the best for your future!
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A key step in creating controlled interactions in dipolar quantum mixtures is the characterization of interspecies Feshbach resonances.
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Matt has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Erwin Schrödinger Center for Quantum Science and Technology (ESQ). As an ESQ postdoc, Matt will study dipolar quantum mixtures of erbium and dysprosium atoms in the RARE lab of Francesca Ferlaino.
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On the 25/02/2020, Sandra held her defense for her master thesis and is now officially a Master of Science! Congratulations!
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After completing the Master's degree in Heidelberg under the supervision of Prof. Weidemüller in the Li-Cs mixture experiment, Lauritz joined our team in February as a PhD student in the Er-Dy dipolar quantum mixture Lab. Welcome to Innsbruck, Lauritz!
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With the beginning of the new year, Matt joins our team as Post-Doc in the Er-Dy LAB. Welcome to Innsbruck, Matt!
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Lab Team

Francesca Ferlaino, Univ.-Prof. Dr.

Group Leader / PI

Manfred Mark, Dr.

Senior Scientist /    Research Assistant

Andrea Litvinov, Dr.

Post Doc

Eva Casotti, MSc.

PhD Student (Er-Dy)

Lauritz Klaus, MSc.

PhD Student (Er-Dy)

Clemens Ulm, MSc.

PhD Student (Er-Dy)