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arXiv:1308.1945 · Physical Review A

Coherent manipulation of cold Rydberg atoms near the surface of an atom chip

J. D. Carter, J. D. D. Martin

Published Oct 28, 2013• 41 citations
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Abstract

Coherent superpositions of the $49{s}_{1/2}$ and $48{s}_{1/2}$ Rydberg states of cold ${}^{87}$Rb atoms were studied near the surface of an atom chip. The superpositions were created and manipulated using microwaves resonant with the two-photon $49{s}_{1/2}\ensuremath{-}48{s}_{1/2}$ transition. Coherent behavior was observed using Rabi flopping, Ramsey sequences, spin echo, and spin locking. These results are discussed in the context of Rydberg atoms as electric field noise sensors. We consider the coherence of systems quadratically coupled to noise fields with $1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\kappa}}$ power spectral densities ($\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\approx}1$).

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.043429

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Coherent superpositions of the 49s1/249{s}_{1/2}49s1/2​ and 48s1/248{s}_{1/2}48s1/2​ Rydberg states of cold 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms were studied near the surface of an atom chip. The superpositions were created and manipulated using microwaves resonant with the two-photon 49s1/2\ensuremath−48s1/249{s}_{1/2}\ensuremath{-}48{s}_{1/2}49s1/2​\ensuremath−48s1/2​ transition. Coherent behavior was observed using Rabi flopping, Ramsey sequences, spin echo, and spin locking. These results are discussed in the context of Rydberg atoms as electric field noise sensors. We consider the coherence of systems quadratically coupled to noise fields with 1/f\ensuremathκ1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\kappa}}1/f\ensuremathκ power spectral densities (\ensuremathκ\ensuremath≈1\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\approx}1\ensuremathκ\ensuremath≈1).
Hybrid quantum systems involving cold atoms and microwave resonators can enable cavity-mediated infinite-range interactions between atomic spin systems and realize atomic quantum memories and transducers for microwave-to-optical conversion. To achieve strong coupling of atoms to on-chip microwave resonators, it was suggested to use atomic Rydberg states with strong electric-dipole transitions. Here we report on the experimental realization of coherent coupling of a Rydberg transition of ultracold atoms, trapped on an integrated superconducting atom chip, to the microwave field of an on-chip coplanar waveguide resonator. Close to the chip surface, stray electric fields lead to inhomogeneous Rydberg level shifts, which would hinder coherent interactions of atoms in a cloud with the Rydberg excitation lasers and the microwave cavity field. We, however, use optical excitation of a Rydberg state of atoms in a narrow layer with nearly constant electric field, which allows for resonant coupling of the atoms to the cavity microwave field on an appropriate Rydberg transition. We also achieve state-selective detection of the energetically close Rydberg states. We then observe and characterize cavity-driven Rabi oscillations between a pair of atomic Rydberg states. The residual damping of the oscillations is dominated by the spread of Rabi frequencies of atoms in different positions of the resonant cavity mode, as revealed by our model. Despite the technical challenges, our studies demonstrate the feasibility of coherent-state manipulation of Rydberg atoms interacting with superconducting circuits, paving the way for realization of capable hybrid quantum systems.
Helium atoms in Rydberg states have been manipulated coherently with microwave radiation pulses near a gold surface and near a superconducting NbTiN surface at a temperature of 3K3\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}3K. The experiments were carried out with a skimmed supersonic beam of metastable (1s)1(2s)11S0{(1s)}^{1}{(2s)}^{1}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}{}^{1}{S}_{0}(1s)1(2s)11S0​ helium atoms excited with laser radiation to npnpnp Rydberg levels with principal quantum number nnn between 30 and 40. The separation between the cold surface and the center of the collimated beam is adjustable down to $250\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. Short-lived npnpnp Rydberg states were coherently transferred to the long-lived nsnsns state to avoid radiative decay of the Rydberg atoms between the photoexcitation region and the region above the cold surfaces. Further coherent manipulation of the nsnsns Rydberg states with pulsed microwave radiation above the surfaces enabled measurements of stray electric fields and allowed us to study the decoherence of the atomic ensemble. Adsorption of residual gas onto the surfaces and the resulting slow buildup of stray fields was minimized by controlling the temperature of the surface and monitoring the partial pressures of H2O{\mathrm{H}}_{2}\mathrm{O}H2​O, N2{\mathrm{N}}_{2}N2​, O2{\mathrm{O}}_{2}O2​, and CO2\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}CO2​ in the experimental chamber during the cool-down procedure. Compensation of the stray electric fields to levels below 100mV/cm100\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mV}/\mathrm{cm}100mV/cm was achieved over a region of 6mm6\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mm}6mm along the beam-propagation direction which, for the 1770-m/s1770\text{-m}/\mathrm{s}1770-m/s beam velocity, implies the possibility to preserve the coherence of the atomic sample for several microseconds above the cold surfaces.
We demonstrate spatially resolved, coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms on an atom chip. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is used to investigate the properties of the Rydberg atoms near the gold-coated chip surface. We measure distance-dependent shifts ( ~ 101010 MHz) of the Rydberg energy levels caused by a spatially inhomogeneous electric field. The measured field strength and distance dependence is in agreement with a simple model for the electric field produced by a localized patch of Rb adsorbates deposited on the chip surface during experiments. The EIT resonances remain narrow (<4<4<4 MHz) and the observed widths are independent of atom-surface distance down to  ~ 202020 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m, indicating relatively long lifetime of the Rydberg states. Our results open the way to studies of dipolar physics, collective excitations, quantum metrology, and quantum information processing involving interacting Rydberg excited atoms on atom chips.
On one side, atom-chip experiments have demonstrated to be a versatile tool to study quantum physics in cold atoms systems. On the other side, Rydberg atoms have exaggerated properties that makes them good candidates to study quantum information and quantum simulations protocols. In this thesis both system are put together with the aim to study Rydberg physics (in particular atom-atom interaction) in an atom-chip experiment. Due to the exaggerated properties of Rydberg atoms they are very sensitive to electric fields. Thus, the combination of Rydberg atoms with surfaces can be challenging. Therefore a detailed characterization of the mentioned stray electric fields via the analysis of Stark-Zeeman maps is crucial. We employ two-photon Rydberg Stark spectroscopy of a micron-sized cloud of magnetically trapped ultracold rubidium atoms to characterize the electric fields near our atom-chip. Once we characterized the local electric fields we were able to study in more detail the effect of Rydberg excitation in the ultracold cloud of atoms. For instance we observed the formation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in our system. In these molecules a ground state atom is weakly bound to the Rydberg electron. We also attempted to observe the effect of Rydberg blockade in the system by looking at the characteristics of Rydberg spectra. Finally we studied the possibility of inducing rf transitions within a Rydberg state manifold in order to enhance our detection method and populate states that are not accessible directly with a two-photon laser transition.
An experiment on Ramsey interferometry of the 37S 1/2 → 37P 1/2 microwave transition in sodium Rydberg atoms has been performed. Interaction of Rydberg atoms with a cw microwave radiation was effectively controlled by a pulse of weak (<1 V cm −1 ) electric field, that manipulated the transition frequency near 70 050 MHz. The pulse detuned the microwave radiation from exact resonance, and induced additional phases to the wavefunctions of Rydberg states due to the quadratic Stark shifts. As a result, the Ramsey fringes were observable both on scanning the frequency of the microwave field and on scanning the strength of the electric field pulse. The experiment confirmed that this Stark-switching technique provides a fast and effective control of the atom–light interactions, and preserves the atomic coherence. Possible applications of this technique to experiments on quantum computers are discussed.
The design, construction and characterization of an atom chip apparatus for cold Rydberg atom experiments with 87Rb is presented. The apparatus is designed to investigate interactions between Rydberg atoms and the nearby chip surface, as well as the dynamics of Rydberg atoms in a double well. The proposed interrogation scheme is Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (Rydberg EIT). Magnetic trapping potentials used to load the chip with atoms are calculated. The atom number and temperature during various phases of the loading sequence are measured using absorption imaging. The room-temperature 4-level ladder-type Rydberg EIT system, in which the 3-level Rydberg EIT system is coupled via microwaves to a second Rydberg state, is investigated experimentally. EIT transmission spectra for different microwave powers and different polarizations of optical fields and microwaves are presented. It is shown that, to explain the observed polarization effects in the probe transmission lineshape, all magnetic sublevels, including the hyperfine structure of both Rydberg levels, have to be taken into account. The corresponding 52-level theory is discussed. Calculations of long-range multipolar Rydberg-atom Rydberg-atom interaction potentials are also presented and discussed.