The Lithium Lab is funded by ERC Consolidator Grant "QuFerm2D: Quantum Simulation of two-dimensional fermionic systems" awarded in 2012 to Giacomo Roati.

Differential interferometry (DI) with two coupled sensors is a most powerful approach for precision measurements in the presence of strong phase noise. However, DI has been studied and implemented only with classical resources. Here we generalize the theory of differential interferometry to the case of entangled probe states. We demonstrate that, for perfectly correlated interferometers and in the presence of arbitrary large phase noise, sub-shot noise sensitivities — up to the Heisenberg limit — are still possible with a special class of entangled states in the ideal lossless scenario.

M. Landini et al.,
Phase-noise protection in quantum-enhanced differential interferometry
New J. Phys. 16, 113074 (2014)

We demonstrate a tomographic reconstruction algorithm that relies on data collected during the evolution of an unknown quantum state. We estimate the state density matrix as well as the dephasing noise present in the system by assuming complete knowledge of the hamiltonian evolution. Our scheme therefore realizes quantum state tomography but could readily be modified to perform quantum process tomography by assuming complete knowledge of the input states.

C. Lovecchio et al.,
Quantum state reconstruction on Atom-Chips
New J. Phys. 17, 093024 (2015)

Matteo Zaccanti has been awarded with an ERC Starting Grant! The title of the project is "PoLiChroM: Superfluidity and ferromagnetism of unequal mass fermions with 2- and 3-body resonant interactions” (proposal #637738). Congratulations!

We report the realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate of ³⁹K atoms without the aid of an additional atomic coolant. Our route to Bose-Einstein condensation comprises sub-Doppler laser cooling of large atomic clouds and evaporative cooling in an optical dipole trap where the collisional cross section can be increased using magnetic Feshbach resonances. Large condensates with almost 10⁶ atoms can be produced in less than 15 s. Our achievements eliminate the need for sympathetic cooling with Rb atoms, which was the usual route implemented until now due to the unfavorable collisional property of ³⁹K.

M. Landini et al.,
Direct evaporative cooling of ³⁹K atoms to Bose-Einstein condensation
Phys. Rev. A 86, 033421 (2012)