Abstract
The advent of the quantum gas microscope allowed for the in situ probing of ultracold gaseous matter on an unprecedented level of spatial resolution. The study of phenomena on ever smaller length scales as well as the probing of three-dimensional systems is, however, fundamentally limited by the wavelength of the imaging light, for all techniques based on linear optics. Here we report on a high-resolution ion microscope as a versatile and powerful experimental tool to investigate quantum gases. The instrument clearly resolves atoms in an optical lattice with a spacing of $532\,\text{nm}$ over a field of view of 50 sites and offers an extremely large depth of field on the order of at least $70\,\mu\text{m}$. With a simple model, we extract an upper limit for the achievable resolution of approximately $200\,\text{nm}$ from our data. We demonstrate a pulsed operation mode which in the future will enable 3D imaging and allow for the study of ionic impurities and Rydberg physics.
Highlights
The ability to observe natural phenomena on the singleparticle level has led to major breakthroughs in modern physics
In order to confirm that the large magnifications suitable for high-resolution imaging can be used without any sacrifices concerning the field of view (FOV), we utilized our optical lattice as a test pattern
We have presented a high-resolution ion microscope allowing for the time-resolved probing of quantum gases on a single-atom level
Summary
The ability to observe natural phenomena on the singleparticle level has led to major breakthroughs in modern physics. Neutral atoms are converted into ions and are subsequently imaged by means of a magnification system onto a spatially and temporally resolving detector This scheme allows for the investigation of ground-state ensembles, Rydberg excitations, and ionic impurities with the very same apparatus. Near-threshold photoionization offers the possibility to produce ultracold ions [30] and opens the door to the spatially resolved study of ionic impurities and ion-atom scattering in the quantum regime [31,32,33,34,35] In this context, an exciting prospect is the observation of polaron formation and transport dynamics from the two-body collisional timescale to the few- and many-body timescales. We begin by discussing a continuous operation mode, in which the object plane is permanently immersed in an extraction field, before demonstrating a pulsed extraction scheme especially suited for the study of ions and Rydberg atoms
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