Speaker: Antonio Negretti, Center for Optical Quantum Technologies,  Hamburg, Germany

Title:  Ultra-cold atoms meet trapped ions:?A new interface for quantum information processing and simulation

Abstract: In recent years a significant experimental effort has been undertaken in order to realise hybrid traps in which both atoms and ions are hosted. Such a novel compound quantum system offers new possibilities for quantum physics research compared to trapped ions and cold atoms, e.g., in optical lattices.

In this talk I shall provide first an overview of the work we have conducted in the last few years and then I shall present our recent theoretical investigations on how to control the interaction of an atom and an ion via Rydberg dressing. Here we exploit the strong polarisabilities of the Rydberg levels to mediate atom-ion interactions over micrometers. We calculate that such interactions can be used to generate entanglement between an atom and the motion or internal state of an ion. Interestingly, no ground state cooling of the ion or atom is required and the setup allows for full dynamical control. Moreover, the scheme is to a large extent immune to the micromotion of the ion.

Our findings are of interest for developing hybrid quantum information platforms and for implementing quantum simulations of solid-state physics.

Klaus Mølmer.

There is a coffee/tea and cake from 15:05.