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arXiv:1605.00332

Trapping atoms in the evanescent field of laser written wave guides

Dario Jukić, Amir Moqanaki, Philip John Walther, Alexander Szameit, Thomas Pohl, Jörg B. Götte

Published May 2, 2016• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We analyze evanescent fields of laser written waveguides and show that they can be used to trap atoms close to the surface of an integrated optical atom chip. In contrast to subwavelength nanofibres it is generally not possible to create a stable trapping potential using only the fundamental modes. This is why we create a stable trapping potential by using two different laser colors, such that the waveguide supports two modes for the blue detuned laser, while for the red detuned light the waveguide has only a single mode. In particular, we study such a two-color trap for Cesium atoms, and calculate both the potential and losses for the set of parameters that are within experimental reach. We also optimize system parameters in order to minimize trap losses due to photon scattering and tunneling to the surface.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1605.00332

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We analyze evanescent fields of laser written waveguides and show that they can be used to trap atoms close to the surface of an integrated optical atom chip. In contrast to subwavelength nanofibres it is generally not possible to create a stable trapping potential using only the fundamental modes. This is why we create a stable trapping potential by using two different laser colors, such that the waveguide supports two modes for the blue detuned laser, while for the red detuned light the waveguide has only a single mode. In particular, we study such a two-color trap for Cesium atoms, and calculate both the potential and losses for the set of parameters that are within experimental reach. We also optimize system parameters in order to minimize trap losses due to photon scattering and tunneling to the surface.
We theoretically investigate three approaches to trapping atoms above linear integrated optical waveguides. A two- color scheme balances the decaying evanescent elds of red- and blue-detuned light to produce a potential minimum above the guide. A one-color surface trap proposal uses blue-detuned light and the attractive surface interaction to provide a potential minimum. A third proposal uses blue-detuned light in two guides positioned above and below one another. The atoms are con ned to the \dark" spot in the vacuum gap between the guides. We nd that all three approaches can be used in principle to trap atoms in two- or three-dimensions with a few 10's of mW of laser power. Of these three methods, we show that the dark spot guide is the most robust to power fluctuations and provides the most viable design approach to constructing integrated optical circuits that could transport and manipulate atoms in a controlled manner.
Integrated optical structures offer the intriguing potential of compact, reproducible waveguide arrays, rings, Y junctions, etc., that could be used to design evanescent field traps to transport, store, and interact atoms in networks as complicated as any integrated optical waveguide circuit. We theoretically investigate three approaches to trapping atoms above linear integrated optical waveguides. A two-color scheme balances the decaying evanescent fields of red- and blue-detuned light to produce a potential minimum above the guide. A one-color surface trap proposal uses blue-detuned light and the attractive surface interaction to provide a potential minimum. A third proposal uses blue-detuned light in two guides positioned above and below one another. The atoms are confined to the ``dark'' spot in the vacuum gap between the guides. We find that all three approaches can be used to trap atoms in two or three dimensions with approximately 100 mW of laser power. We show that the dark spot guide is robust to light scatter and provides the most viable approach for constructing integrated optical circuits that could be used to transport and manipulate atoms in a controlled manner.
We propose a dipole-force linear waveguide which confines neutral atoms up to $\ensuremath{\lambda}/2$ above a microfabricated single-mode dielectric optical guide. The optical guide carries far blue-detuned light in the horizontally-polarized TE mode and far red-detuned light in the vertically-polarized TM mode, with both modes close to optical cut-off. A trapping minimum in the transverse plane is formed above the optical guide due to the differing evanescent decay lengths of the two modes. This design allows manufacture of mechanically stable atom-optical elements on a substrate. We calculate the full vector bound modes for an arbitrary guide shape using two-dimensional non-uniform finite elements in the frequency-domain, allowing us to optimize atom waveguide properties. We find that a rectangular optical guide of $0.8\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ by $0.2\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ carrying 6 mW of total laser power (detuning $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}15\mathrm{nm}$ about the D2D2D2 line) gives a trap depth of $200\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ for cesium atoms (mF=0),{(m}_{F}=0),(mF​=0), transverse oscillation frequencies of fx=40kHz{f}_{x}=40\mathrm{kHz}fx​=40kHz and fy=160kHz,{f}_{y}=160\mathrm{kHz},fy​=160kHz, collection area $\ensuremath{\sim}1\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ and coherence time of 9 ms. We discuss the effects of non-zero mF,{m}_{F},mF​, the D1D1D1 line, surface interactions, heating rate, the substrate refractive index, and the limits on waveguide bending radius.
We suggest using a two-color evanescent light field around a subwavelength-diameter fiber to trap and guide atoms. The optical fiber carries a red-detuned light and a blue-detuned light, with both modes far from resonance. When both input light fields are circularly polarized, a set of trapping minima of the total potential in the transverse plane is formed as a ring around the fiber. This design allows confinement of atoms to a cylindrical shell around the fiber. When one or both of the input light fields are linearly polarized, the total potential has two local minimum points in the transverse plane. This design allows confinement of atoms to two straight lines parallel to the fiber axis. Due to the small thickness of the fiber, we can use far-off-resonance fields with substantially differing evanescent decay lengths to produce a net potential with a large depth, a large coherence time, and a large trap lifetime. For example, a 0.2-\ensuremath{\mu}m-radius silica fiber carrying 30 mW of 1.06-\ensuremath{\mu}m-wavelength light and 29 mW of 700-nm-wavelength light, both fields circularly polarized at the input, gives for cesium atoms a trap depth of 2.9 mK, a coherence time of 32 ms, and a recoil-heating-limited trap lifetime of 541 s.
We propose a two-color scheme of atom waveguides and one-dimensional (1D) optical lattices using evanescent wave fields of different transverse modes around an optical micro/nano-fiber. The atom guide potential can be produced when the optical fiber carries a red-detuned light with TE01 mode and a blue-detuned light with HE11 mode, and the 1D optical lattice potential can be produced when the red-detuned light is transformed to the superposition of the TE01 mode and HE11 mode. The two trapping potentials can be transformed to each other for accurately controlling mode transformation for the red-detuned light. This might provide a new approach to realize flexible transition between the guiding and trapping states of atoms.
The trapping of ultra-cold atoms using two-color evanescent light waves formed by propagating modes of suspended optical rib waveguides is modeled in different configurations. Reducing the anisotropy of the two-color evanescent optical dipole potential requires two laser light components with a large frequency difference. The upper frequency is guided in the two lowest transverse waveguide modes, and the lower frequency propagates in a single-mode regime. This increases the depth of the dipole potential in the lateral direction. An additional increase in the optical dipole potential can be achieved by tuning the frequencies of the two modes to two different atomic transitions. When applied to rubidium, the total depth of the corresponding surface optical dipole traps can reach 0.3 mK or greater under reasonable conditions.