We show the planned upgrade of a cavity QED experimental apparatus. The system consists of an optical cavity and an ensemble of ultracold $^{85}$Rb atoms coupled to its mode. We propose enhancements to both. First, we document the building process for a new cavity, with a planned finesse of $\sim$20000. We address problems of maintaining mirror integrity during mounting and improving vibration isolation. Second, we propose improvements to the cold atom source in order to achieve better optical pumping and control over the flux of atoms. We consider a 2-D optical molasses for atomic beam deflection, and show computer simulation results for evaluating the design. We also examine the possibility of all-optical atomic beam focusing, but find that it requires unreasonable experimental parameters.
We show the planned upgrade of a cavity QED experimental apparatus. The system consists of an optical cavity and an ensemble of ultracold 85Rb atoms coupled to its mode. We propose enhancements to both. First, we document the building process for a new cavity, with a planned finesse of ∼20000. We address problems of maintaining mirror integrity during mounting and improving vibration isolation. Second, we propose improvements to the cold atom source in order to achieve better optical pumping and control over the flux of atoms. We consider a 2-D optical molasses for atomic beam deflection, and show computer simulation results for evaluating the design. We also examine the possibility of all-optical atomic beam focusing, but find that it requires unreasonable experimental parameters.
In this thesis, we describe the implementation of a cavity-microscope system for cold atoms experiments. This technology combines a high-finesse optical resonator and a high-resolution imaging system. Stability and alignment are crucial aspects of the setup. A cavity holder has been specifically designed to answer the mechanical demands of the cavity-microscope, ensuring its stability. Furthermore, an assembly and alignment procedure has been carefully planned to bring together the bare optical and mechanical components which form the apparatus. We concretely show the efficacy of the defined technique by constructing an updated setup for the Microscope Experiment in the Laboratory for Quantum Gases. The device has been adapted to address the specifics of the experiment with careful attention to the features needed for its long-term goal. Finally, we demonstrate that the implemented procedure maintains intact the optical properties of the system and that it meets the mechanical requirements discussed above. These tests validate the reliability and the integrity of the devised technique. Through the implemented device, two main benefits emerge. Firstly, it enables the detection of atom numbers in a continuous and high-resolved way, two features that are typically challenging to be incorporated together. Secondly, it provides a method to spatially and temporally control the atom-cavity coupling, which is collective in standard cavity QED setups. Ultimately, this technology opens up stimulating prospects for controlled simulations of long-range interacting physical systems.
We present and characterize an experimental system in which we achieve the integration of an ultrahigh finesse optical cavity with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The conceptually novel design of the apparatus for the production of BECs features nested vacuum chambers and an in vacuo magnetic transport configuration. It grants large scale spatial access to the BEC for samples and probes via a modular and exchangeable “science platform.” We are able to produce Rb87 condensates of 5×106 atoms and to output couple continuous atom lasers. The cavity is mounted on the science platform on top of a vibration isolation system. The optical cavity works in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics and serves as a quantum optical detector for single atoms. This system enables us to study atom optics on a single particle level and to further develop the field of quantum atom optics. We describe the technological modules and the operation of the combined BEC cavity apparatus. Its performance is characterized by single atom detection measurements for thermal and quantum degenerate atomic beams. The atom laser provides a fast and controllable supply of atoms coupling with the cavity mode and allows for an efficient study of atom field interactions in the strong coupling regime. Moreover, the high detection efficiency for quantum degenerate atoms distinguishes the cavity as a sensitive and weakly invasive probe for cold atomic clouds.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes the interactions of single atoms and single photons in a resonator. In the laboratory, state-of-the-art experiments are able to observe the dynamics of these simple yet fundamental quantum systems. The recent development of quantum information science has also introduced a new role for cavity QED systems as quantum interfaces, in which information can be coherently mapped between photonic and atomic quantum bits. Groundbreaking optical cavity QED experiments in the past twenty years would not have been possible without the technological development of mirror coatings with extremely low scatter and absorption losses. Thermal noise has typically played a smaller role in cavity QED experiments but in certain instances is nevertheless important to consider. In this chapter, we begin with an overview of optical cavity QED experiments and some of the central questions that they address. It is hoped that this description, while by no means exhaustive, will provide a window for the nonspecialist into basic techniques and motivations in the field. We then turn to focus on the roles played by scattering and absorption loss and mechanical loss. We discuss how these losses have set limits on feasible experiments and the extent to which improvements may be possible. Experimental realizations of cavity QED systems An idealized cavity QED system consists of one atom placed between two highly reflective mirrors (Figure 17.1). In this model, a single atomic transition interacts with photons in a single cavity mode; the atom is often pictured at an antinode of the cavity standing wave, where it has a maximal dipole interaction with the cavity field.
A single two-level emitter coupled to a single mode of an electromagnetic resonator constitutes the most fundamental instance of light--matter interaction. Realizations of this type of system are investigated in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED). Particularly important are schemes in which the coupling is strong enough to exceed the spontaneous emission rate as well as cavity damping. In this case, the coherent exchange of excitation between source and photon is the dominating process, providing the unique possibility to deterministically control the quantum evolution of the system. Great progress has recently been accomplished, technologically as well as conceptually, and the focus section in this issue of Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics features five articles highlighting important recent developments in the field. Strong coupling between single atoms and the electromagnetic cavity field have been achieved in two distinct regimes, the optical and the microwave region. The latter is represented by the micromaser, a high-Q microwave cavity pumped by a beam of highly excited Rydberg atoms. It has proved to be an almost ideal system for the generation of non-classical field states. A constraint in these experiments is the fact that the field inside the cavity can only be examined indirectly, by analysing the occupation of atoms leaving the cavity. While only two atomic states were previously identified for this purpose, V A Reshetov shows in his article (pages 119--126) that more information on the field may be extracted by taking advantage of the Zeeman substructure of the atomic levels. In the optical domain of cavity QED, by contrast, the state of the resonator field may be probed directly by measuring the light leaking from the cavity using photodetectors. In order to minimize damping, high-quality cavities must be employed. In most optical experiments these are Fabry--Perot resonators with ultra-high reflectivity mirrors, with losses as low as a few parts per million being state of the art. At the same time, the coupling of atoms and photons is enhanced by reducing the length of the cavity, so that strong coupling conditions are reached. A very attractive application of this type of cavity QED setup is the possibility of exerting control over the quantum dynamics of the system. An impressive example is the implementation of quantum feedback, reported in the paper by W P Smith and L A Orozco (pages 127--134). Using information gained from detecting a single photon escaping from the cavity, active feedback is applied to halt the dynamical evolution of the system. This is the first time active feedback has been used to modify the quantum evolution of a system at the single-photon level. The authors discuss how detunings between the subsystems affect the quantum feedback, an issue particularly relevant for ensembles of atoms with a spread in detuning. Perfect quantum feedback in this case requires the use of additional parameters to control the system. The majority of optical cavity QED experiments performed so far have used as a medium atoms traversing the cavity on random trajectories, such as, for example, thermal atomic beams. In this case, the observation of quantum effects is degraded in two ways. The Doppler effect and the finite transit time lead to line broadening, while the spatial structure of the cavity mode results in atoms in different locations experiencing different coupling with the photonic field. J E Reiner et al (pages 135--142) investigate the impact of these effects on quantum fluctuations in their cavity QED system. In order to overcome line broadening, they have developed a continuous cold atomic beam, extracted from a magneto-optical trap. An even better control of broadening effects and fluctuating coupling strength is provided by trapping the atoms inside the cavity and cooling them to temperatures at which their position spread is smaller than the optical wavelength. Much recent activity has been devoted to developing such an ultimate cavity QED system. A Vukics et al (pages 143--153) present a theoretical proposal for dynamically trapping and cooling atoms inside a cavity. By driving the atoms with a standing wave injected from the side of the cavity and by weakly exciting the cavity field itself, they predict three-dimensional trapping of the atom for periods around 1 second, an extremely long time on the typical scale of cavity QED dynamics. The essential component of their scheme is the interference between the two driving fields, determining the temperature of the particle and the stable trapping positions. In the quest for better confinement of radiation, lately, an appealing alternative to the Fabry--Perot cavity has been investigated -- the optical microsphere resonator. A sphere with a diameter of a few tens of microns, it supports so-called whispering gallery modes near its circumference, for which quality factors up to 10 10 have been measured. In order to exploit the correspondingly low field damping rates for cavity QED, a method must be found to couple atomic or solid state emitters to these modes. S Göotzinger et al (pages 154--158) report the coupling of single nanocrystals on the surface of a microsphere through the evanescent field of the mode. Selective excitation of a single nano-emitter was accomplished with a scanning confocal microscope. The system is a promising candidate for cavity QED with single-quantum emitters. The ability to fully control the quantum dynamics of atoms and light is beginning to spawn early applications. The most notable example is quantum information processing. This requires the coherent manipulation of single-quantum systems, which is ideally provided by cavity QED interaction in the strong-coupling limit. The development of practical devices will be among the principal future tasks for research in the field. This will include physical systems, which have not been covered in this issue, such as semiconductors, quantum dots as emitters, or photonic crystals as resonator structures. Cavity QED is therefore guaranteed to remain a vigorous field in the years to come.
Motivated to develop quantum technologies and to study ever-more complex quantum systems,scientists are developing increasingly sophisticated experimental tools to control and\nmeasure quantum samples such as ensembles of ultracold atoms. A high-finesse optical\ncavity can be used to measure the state of atoms within its photonic mode with precision\nlimited only by quantum uncertainty. Such a cavity can also be used to mediate interactions\nbetween different atoms within the cavity mode. High-resolution microscope objectives have\nbeen interfaced with ultracold atom experiments to allow researchers to image single atoms\nwithin optical lattices, to trap single atoms in microtweezer arrays, and to imprint arbitrary\noptical patterns onto atomic ensembles. Among other applications, these technologies have\nallowed researchers to investigate many-body quantum systems, engineer novel interactions,\nand realize high-fidelity quantum operations.This dissertation presents the details of the design, construction, and operation of a new, versatileatomic physics apparatus that combines these two experimental tools. The apparatus\nincludes a high-finesse optical cavity into which atoms are optically transported. In addition,\nthere is a high-numerical-aperture objective aligned to image, with micron-scale resolution,\natoms trapped within the center of the optical cavity. We present results demonstrating\nthe capability of this apparatus to deliver and study ultracold atomic samples, ranging from\nsingle atoms to Bose-Einstein condensates. We demonstrate a dispersive shift of the cavity\nresonance due to the presence of atoms in the cavity mode and the trapping and imaging of\nsingle atoms in optical microtweezers. We also present an atomic scanning probe microscopy\ntechnique with which a single atom in a microtweezer is used to map out the spatial amplitude\npattern of an optical cavity mode standing wave by monitoring the position-dependent\nscattering properties of the atom.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) allows the study of light-matter in-teractions at the most basic level, through precise identification of the coherent and incoherent (dissipative) parts of the system evolution. We present measurements of light from a cavity QED system consisting of a high-finesse optical resonator coupled to a beam of cold Rb atoms. The novelty of the design lies in the interplay of two degenerate and orthogonal polarization modes. One mode (driven) behaves as the canonical cavity mode of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian, coherently exciting the atoms with a modest coupling strength; the other mode (undriven) collects a small fraction of spontaneously emitted light and provides a probe of the dissipative processes. We first demonstrate the ability to detect individual atoms passing through the cavity modes in real time by coincidence detection of photons from the un-driven mode. Calculation of statistics and correlation functions from the complete photon detection record allows the determination of detection probabilities and the reconstruction of atomic trajectories. We next present evidence of quantum coher-ence that is created, modified, and measured in the excitation-spontaneous emission cycle. The coherence appears as a long-lived quantum beat at the ground-state Larmor frequency, visible in the intensity autocorrelation function of the undriven mode. Quantum jumps of the atomic state, occurring in between the detections of photons from the cavity, result in substantial changes in the frequency and spectral width of the beats. We present the results of a full quantum Monte Carlo calculation in order to quantitatively explain the measurements.