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The Will Lab investigates quantum systems of ultracold atoms and molecules. We cool atoms and molecules to ultracold temperatures close to above absolute zero - reaching the coldest temperatures allowed by nature. At these temperatures, the behavior of particles is determined by the laws of quantum mechanics. Using the precision tools of atomic physics, we have full control over the quantum state of each particle and the interactions between them. 

We work towards single atom and single molecule and create novel many-body quantum systems, and perform quantum simulations of strongly interacting matter. Our research program focusses on fundamental questions in many-body quantum physics, quantum simulation, and quantum optics, and contributes to the development of modern quantum technologies. For more details go to Research.

Recent News

November 11, 2024

Trapping of single atoms in metasurface tweezer arrays

Check out our latest work on the trapping of strontium atoms in optical tweezer arrays generated via holographic metasurfaces. We demonstrate a high degree of array uniformity in terms of trap depth, trap frequency, and positional accuracy. Furthermore, we show that - due to sub-micrometer pixel sizes and high pixel densities - holographic metasurfaces open a path towards optical tweezer arrays with more than 100,000 traps. A big thank you to the TweeSr team and our collaborators at the Nanfang Yu lab for the amazing work! 

Link: arXiv:2411.05321

June 28, 2024

Magic trapping of microwave-shielded molecules

Recent work has shown that microwave dressing can massively enhance the collisional lifetime and enable Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules. In this work, we analyze the impact of microwave dressing on the  single molecule level. We develop dressed-state spectroscopy as a new spectroscopic method and find that a magic rotational transition can be engineered in NaCs molecules by controlling their optical polarizability with microwave fields. All details in our preprint: 

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.19308

July 9, 2024

Three-body recombination of microwave-shielded molecules

In this work, we study three-body collisions in a gas of ultracold dipolar molecules. Our data shows that three-body recombination can explain performance limits of microwave-shielding, which have so far been unexplained. We compare experimental data of three-body loss rates with the results of a classical trajectory model for recombination and find excellent agreement. The insights are efficient cooling of dipolar molecules and point to rich three-body physics. 

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.04901

June 3, 2024

Bose-Einstein condensate of polar molecules out in Nature!

Link to manuscript Nature (2024) 

Link to Columbia Press Release  

Link to Nature News

Link to Physics Today

Link to Nature Podcast

Link to New Scientist

Link to Scientific Amerian

Link to Popular Mechanics

Link to NSF News

Link to Nature News and Views

Funding

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Videos

Our lab is featured in recent videos:

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The Coldest Place in New York

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Nobel Prize 2022 - Quantum Entanglement

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