Measuring light-matter interactions of dysprosium using optical tweezers

Measuring light-matter interactions of dysprosium using optical tweezers

Researchers developed an apparatus to trap individual dysprosium atoms in arrays of focused laser beams (optical tweezers). They precisely measured how the atoms interact with light at a wavelength of 532 nanometers, quantifying the scalar, vector and tensor components of the atom's dynamical polarizability. This revealed a 'magic' condition to eliminate differential light shifts for robust imaging. However, the scalar polarizability disagreed significantly with theory, motivating further investigations.