Title:Â Â Optically Driven Atom Arrays and New Resources for Ultracold Atomic Physics
Abstract:Â Â New techniques and resources in ultracold atomic physics have continually deepened its impact on science. Â I will discuss two experimental developments that, hopefully, exemplify this trend. Â First, I will share how my research group is using the versatile tool of atom-tweezer arrays to study collective atom-light coupling and symmetry-breaking in the mesoscopic regime. Â Specifically, we show how, akin to the response of metamaterials, the precise control over the positions of atoms affects their collective coupling to an optical cavity. Â This collective coupling to light affects the mechanical state of the tweezer-trapped atoms, leading to a phase transition between unbroken and broken symmetry states. Â This self-organization phase transition, akin to that predicted by the Dicke model, has been studied previously in macroscopic systems. Â Here, we examine such critical behavior in the mesoscopic regime and identify signatures of the enhanced fluctuations that are the hallmark of mesoscopic physics. Â Second, I will describe our efforts to bring new atomic elements into the ultracold regime, focusing on transition-metal atoms and specifically on titanium, which we have now succeeded in laser-cooling and trapping for the first time.