Realization of a fast triple-magic all-optical qutrit in strontium-88 (2411.02869v1)

Abstract: The optical clock states of alkaline earth and alkaline earth-like atoms are the fundament of state-of-the-art optical atomic clocks. An important prerequisite for the operation of optical clocks are magic trapping conditions, where electronic and motional dynamics decouple. Here, we identify and experimentally demonstrate simultaneous magic trapping for two clock transitions in $^{88}$Sr, realizing so-called triple-magic conditions at a specially chosen magic angle. Under these conditions, we operate an all-optical qutrit comprising the ground state $^1S_0$, and the two metastable clock states $^3P_0$ and $^3P_2$. We demonstrate fast optical control in an atom array using two- and three-photon couplings to realize high-fidelity manipulation between all qutrit states. Furthermore, at the magic angle we measure atom-atom coherence times between the metastable states as long as 773(21) ms. Our work opens several new directions, including qutrit-based quantum metrology on optical transitions and high-fidelity and high-coherence manipulation on the $^{88}$Sr fine-structure qubit.