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arXiv:1312.5784 · Optics Letters

Steerable optical tweezers for ultracold atom studies

K. O. Roberts, Thomas McKellar, J. Fekete, Ana Rakonjac, Amita B. Deb, Niels Kjærgaard

Published Mar 24, 2014• 38 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optic deflectors and offers two-dimensional control over beam position. This opens up the possibility for tracking the transport channel when shuttling atomic clouds along it, forestalling atom spilling. Multiple clouds can be tracked independently by time-shared tweezer beams addressing individual sites in the channel. The deflectors are controlled using a multichannel direct digital synthesizer, which receives instructions on a submicrosecond time scale from a field-programmable gate array. Using the tweezer system, we demonstrate sequential binary splitting of an ultracold 87Rb cloud into 2(5) clouds.

DOI
10.1364/ol.39.002012

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We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optic deflectors and offers two-dimensional control over beam position. This opens up the possibility for tracking the transport channel when shuttling atomic clouds along it, forestalling atom spilling. Multiple clouds can be tracked independently by time-shared tweezer beams addressing individual sites in the channel. The deflectors are controlled using a multichannel direct digital synthesizer, which receives instructions on a submicrosecond time scale from a field-programmable gate array. Using the tweezer system, we demonstrate sequential binary splitting of an ultracold 87Rb cloud into 2(5) clouds.
We use optical tweezers based on time-multiplexed acousto-optic deflectors to trap ultracold cesium atoms in one-dimensional arrays of atomic ensembles. For temperatures between $2.5\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ and 50nK50\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nK}50nK we study the maximal time between optical tweezer pulses that retains the number of atoms in a single trap. This time provides an estimate of the maximal number of sites in an array of time-multiplexed optical tweezers. We demonstrate evaporative cooling of atoms in arrays of up to 25 optical tweezer traps and the preparation of atoms in a box potential. Additionally, we demonstrate three different protocols for the preparation of atomic-ensemble arrays by transfer from an expanding ultracold atomic cloud. These result in the preparation of arrays of up to 74 atomic ensembles consisting of $\ensuremath{\sim}100$ atoms on average.
This thesis documents the development of a frequency source based on a field pro-grammable gate array (FPGA) and a direct digital synthesiser (DDS). The source was used to drive the two inputs of a dual-axis acousto-optic deflector (AOD), an integral component in a steerable optical tweezer unit designed for use with ultracold 87Rb and 40K. By synchronously changing the frequencies of the paired inputs to the AOD, an optical beam was able to be moved in two dimensions. The frequency source was used to trap and smoothly move samples of ultracold 87Rb over several millimetres, and by quickly toggling the inputs between multiple pairs of frequencies, multiple clouds were confined and moved in time-averaged potentials. The utility of the FPGA/DDS unit is shown, most notably by simultaneously evaporating four independent clouds through the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) phase transition. ii Acknowledgements I’ve been very fortunate to have had such profound role models during my time in the
Reconfigurable arrays of neutral atoms are a leading platform for quantum computing, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology. The most common method for atom reconfiguration using optical tweezers relies on frequency chirping of acousto-optic deflectors (AODs). However, chirp-induced acoustic lensing limits the speed of atom transport by deformation of the tweezer profile and warping of the tweezer trajectory. We use a three-dimensional acousto-optic deflector lens (3D-AODL) to mitigate both effects, a design predicted to halve current state-of-the-art long-range transport times. Additionally, we introduce fading-Shepard waveforms that bypass the finite AOD bandwidth and thus enable sustained axial displacement. We demonstrate unrestricted 3D motion within a cuboid volume of at least 200 μm × 200 μm × 136 μm, with tweezer velocities exceeding 4.2 m/s. The ability to move optical tweezers along arbitrary trajectories in 3D should enable rapid in-plane and out-of-plane rearrangement of atoms in 2D or 3D tweezer arrays and optical lattices, as well as omnidirectional trajectories and dynamical engineering of optical potentials. This technology has the potential to advance quantum control and atom manipulation in current atom-array quantum computers, boosting clock rates and enabling rapid sorting in geometries scalable to millions of qubits.
Optical tweezer arrays trapping ultracold atoms and molecules are a versatile quantum science platform with broad impact in quantum simulation, quantum computation, and quantum metrology. The polarization dependence of anisotropic vector and tensor light shifts offers a degree of freedom for precise quantum state engineering of trapped particles. Similarly, state-selective operations depend on the polarization of the addressing light through the atom--light coupling strength. Yet, methods for controlling the polarization of individual tweezers or local addressing beams remain an experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate independent, site-resolved linear polarization rotation across an optical tweezer array by exploiting the local birefringence tunability of a spatial light modulator. Applying this capability to an array of 88Sr^{88}\rm{Sr}88Sr atoms, we homogenize differential light shifts imparted by the 813-nm tweezers to the narrow 1S0↔3P1{^1{\rm S}_0}\leftrightarrow{^3{\rm P}_1}1S0​↔3P1​ transition, enabling sideband cooling under a magic-angle condition. Furthermore, we show dynamic transport of trapped atoms across distinct polarization zones with high survival and preserved coherence. Finally, we characterize tweezer polarization noise and demonstrate closed-loop stabilization referenced to the atomic transition frequency, reaching mrad-level stability. Our work establishes a technique for manipulating polarization-sensitive atomic and molecular transitions in tweezer architectures, with immediate applications to optical tweezer clocks and multi-zone quantum processors.