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Ultracold atoms in a radiofrequency-dressed optical lattice

Nathan Lundblad, National Institute of Standards and Technology

(Session 2 : Friday from 11:00-11:30)

Abstract. We load cold atoms into an optical lattice dramatically reshaped by the rf dressing of a strongly state-dependent bare lattice. This rf dressing changes the unit cell of the lattice at a subwavelength scale, such that its curvature and topology departs strongly from that of a simple sinusoidal lattice, and in certain limits is ringlike. Such a lattice is generally interesting from a band-structure engineering perspective, and more specifically from a need for lattices that will realize more complicated solid-state analogues. Radiofrequency dressing has previously been performed at length scales from millimeters to tens of microns, but not at the single-optical-wavelength scale. At this length scale significant coupling between adiabatic potentials leads to nonadiabatic transitions, which we characterize. We also investigate the dressing itself by measuring the momentum distribution of the dressed states.