Single-site-resolved imaging of ultracold atoms in a triangular optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates high-fidelity single-site-resolved imaging of ultracold rubidium atoms in a triangular optical lattice using Raman sideband cooling, enabling detailed studies of quantum correlations in frustrated systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel imaging technique combining Raman sideband cooling and Bayesian optimization for high-fidelity detection in a triangular lattice.

Findings

Achieved 96.3% single-atom detection fidelity.

Enabled direct observation of spin correlations.

Demonstrated imaging in a geometrically frustrated lattice.

Abstract

We demonstrate single-site-resolved fluorescence imaging of ultracold $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms in a triangular optical lattice by employing Raman sideband cooling. Combining a Raman transition at the D1 line and a photon scattering through an optical pumping of the D2 line, we obtain images with low background noise. The Bayesian optimisation of 11 experimental parameters for fluorescence imaging with Raman sideband cooling enables us to achieve single-atom detection with a high fidelity of $(96.3 \pm 1.3)$%. Single-atom and single-site resolved detection in a triangular optical lattice paves the way for the direct observation of spin correlations or entanglement in geometrically frustrated systems.