High-purity solid parahydrogen.

Alkali atoms trapped in solid hydrogen matrices have demonstrated ultralong electron spin coherence times and are promising as quantum sensors. Their spin coherence is limited by magnetic noise from naturally occurring orthohydrogen molecules in the parahydrogen matrix. In the gas phase, the orthohydrogen component of hydrogen can be converted to parahydrogen by flowing it over a catalyst held at cryogenic temperatures, with lower temperatures giving a lower orthohydrogen fraction. In this work, we use a single cryostat to reduce the orthohydrogen fraction of hydrogen gas and grow a solid matrix from the resulting high-purity parahydrogen. We demonstrate the operation of the catalyst down to a temperature of 8 K, and we spectroscopically verify that orthohydrogen impurities in the resulting solid are at a level <10-6. We also find that, at sufficiently low temperatures, the cryogenic catalyst provides isotopic purification, reducing the HD fraction.

Ultralong Spin-Coherence Times for Rubidium Atoms in Solid Parahydrogen via Dynamical Decoupling.

Coherence time is an essential parameter for quantum sensing, quantum information, and quantum computation. In this work, we demonstrate electron spin coherence times as long as 0.1 s for an ensemble of rubidium atoms trapped in a solid parahydrogen matrix. We explore the underlying physics limiting the coherence time. The properties of these matrix isolated atoms are very promising for future applications, including quantum sensing of nuclear spins. If combined with efficient single-atom readout, this would enable NMR and magnetic resonance imaging of single molecules cotrapped with alkali-metal atom quantum sensors within a parahydrogen matrix.

Cold Anisotropically Interacting van der Waals Molecule: TiHe.

We have used laser ablation and helium buffer-gas cooling to produce titanium-helium van der Waals molecules at cryogenic temperatures. The molecules were detected through laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. Ground-state Ti(a^{3}F_{2})-He binding energies were determined for the ground and first rotationally excited states from studying equilibrium thermodynamic properties, and found to agree well with theoretical calculations based on newly calculated ab initio Ti-He interaction potentials, opening up novel possibilities for studying the formation, dynamics, and nonuniversal chemistry of van der Waals clusters at low temperatures.

Longitudinal Spin Relaxation of Optically Pumped Rubidium Atoms in Solid Parahydrogen.

We have grown crystals of solid parahydrogen using a single closed-cycle cryostat. We have doped the crystals with rubidium atoms at densities on the order of 10^{17} cm^{-3} and used optical pumping to polarize the spin state of the implanted atoms. The optical spectrum of the rubidium atoms shows larger broadening than previous work in which the rubidium was implanted in solid argon or neon. However, the optical pumping behavior is significantly improved, with both a larger optical pumping signal and a longer longitudinal relaxation time. The spin relaxation time shows a strong dependence on orthohydrogen impurity levels in the crystal, as well as the applied magnetic field. Current performance is comparable to state-of-the-art solid state systems at comparable spin densities, with potential for improvement at higher parahydrogen purities.

Observation of a classical Cheshire cat in an optical interferometer.

A recent neutron interferometry experiment claims to demonstrate a paradoxical phenomenon dubbed the "quantum Cheshire cat" [Nat. Commun.5, 4492 (2014)]. We have reproduced and extended these results with an equivalent optical interferometer. The results suggest that the photon travels through one arm of the interferometer, while its polarization travels through the other. However, we show that these experimental results belong to the domain where quantum and classical wave theories coincide; there is nothing uniquely quantum about the illusion of this Cheshire cat.

Spectroscopic detection of the LiHe molecule.

We use cryogenic helium buffer-gas cooling to form large densities of lithium atoms in a high-density helium gas, from which LiHe molecules form by three-body recombination. These weakly bound van der Waals molecules are detected spectroscopically, and their binding energy is measured from their equilibrium thermodynamic properties.

Chemical reactions of atomic lithium and molecular calcium monohydride at 1 K.

Using cryogenic helium buffer-gas cooling, we have prepared dense samples of atomic lithium and molecular calcium monohydride at temperatures as low as 1 K. We have measured the Li+CaH→LiH+Ca chemical reaction, observed in both the accelerated disappearance of CaH in the presence of high densities of lithium and in the appearance of the LiH molecule.

Electromagetically induced transparency with nuclear spin.

We report the observation of electromagnetically induced transparency in a sample of cryogenically cooled ground-state atomic ytterbium ((1)S(0)). The transparency is produced due to coherence between the optical field and the nuclear spin state of the (173)Yb nucleus. Because the nuclear spin states interact very weakly with their environment, they are resistant to decoherence due to inelastic collisions and inhomogenous fields. Consequently, atomic ensembles of pure nuclear spin states may be a superior medium for a variety of nonlinear optics and quantum information experiments.