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arXiv:1905.10978 · Optica

Microring resonators on a suspended membrane circuit for atom–light interactions

Tzu-Han Chang, Brian M. Fields, May E. Kim, Chen-Lung Hung

Published Sep 10, 2019• 42 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We describe the design and fabrication of a scalable atom-light photonic interface based on a silicon nitride microring resonator on a transparent silicon dioxide-nitride multi-layer membrane. This new photonic platform is fully compatible with freespace cold atom laser cooling, stable trapping, and sorting at around $100~$nm from the microring surface, permitting the formation of an organized, strongly interacting atom-photonic hybrid lattice. We demonstrate small radius ($R\sim$16$μ$m) microring and racetrack resonators with a high quality factor $Q=3.2\times 10^5$, projecting a single atom cooperativity parameter of $C=25$ and a vacuum Rabi frequency of $2g= 2π\times 340~$MHz for trapped cesium atoms interacting with a microring resonator mode. We show that the quality factor is currently limited by the surface roughness of the multi-layer membrane, grown using low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) processes. We discuss possible further improvements to a quality factor above $Q>5\times10^6$, potentially achieving single atom cooperativity parameter of $C > 500$ for strong single atom-photon coupling.

DOI
10.1364/optica.6.001203

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We describe the design and fabrication of a scalable atom-light photonic interface based on a silicon nitride microring resonator on a transparent silicon dioxide-nitride multi-layer membrane. This new photonic platform is fully compatible with freespace cold atom laser cooling, stable trapping, and sorting at around 100 100~100 nm from the microring surface, permitting the formation of an organized, strongly interacting atom-photonic hybrid lattice. We demonstrate small radius (R∼R\simR∼16μμμm) microring and racetrack resonators with a high quality factor Q=3.2×105Q=3.2\times 10^5Q=3.2×105, projecting a single atom cooperativity parameter of C=25C=25C=25 and a vacuum Rabi frequency of 2g=2π×340 2g= 2π\times 340~2g=2π×340 MHz for trapped cesium atoms interacting with a microring resonator mode. We show that the quality factor is currently limited by the surface roughness of the multi-layer membrane, grown using low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) processes. We discuss possible further improvements to a quality factor above Q>5×106Q>5\times10^6Q>5×106, potentially achieving single atom cooperativity parameter of C>500C > 500C>500 for strong single atom-photon coupling.
Developing a hybrid platform that combines nanophotonic circuits and atomic physic may provide new chip-scale devices for quantum application or versatile tools for exploring photon-mediated long-range quantum systems. However, this challenging project demands the excellent integration of cold atom trapping and manipulation technology with cutting-edge nanophotonics circuit design and fabrication. In this thesis project, we aim to develop a novel suspended membrane platform that serves as a quantum interface between laser-cooled, trapped atoms in an ultrahigh vacuum and the photons guided in the nanophotonic circuits based on high-quality silicon nitride microring resonators fabricated on a transparent membrane substrate. The proposed platform meets the stringent performance requirements imposed by nanofabrication and optical physics in an ultra-high vacuum. These include a high yield rate for mm-scale suspended dielectric photonic devices, minimization of the surface roughness to achieve ultrahigh-optical quality, complete control of optical loss/in-coupling rate to achieve critical photon coupling to a microring resonator, and high-efficiency waveguide optical input/output coupler in an ultrahigh vacuum environment. This platform is compatible with laser-cooled and trapped cold atoms. The experimental demonstration of trapping and imaging single atoms on a photonic resonator circuit using optical tweezers has been demonstrated. Our circuit design can potentially reach a record-high cooperativity parameter C$>$500 for single atom-photon coupling, which is of high importance in realizing a coherent quantum nonlinear optical platform and holds great promise as an on-chip atom-cavity QED platform.
The integration of cold neutral atoms with nanophotonic circuits offers significant potential as a light–mater interface for a wide range of applications ranging from studies of fundamental physics and quantum many– body physics to quantum networks. Here, we describe the design and realization of a novel platform where an efficiently–coupled microring photonic circuit on a chip is integrated with a cold atom system. This platform is fully compatible with laser cooling and trapping atoms, which allows for direct loading of cold atoms into an optical tweezer lattice formed on the microring circuit. Realizing strong atom–light interaction requires localizing atoms within the near field region of a whispering-gallery mode in a microring resonator. To this end, we estimate the positions of trapped atoms and consider a scheme to transport them to the closest site from the surface. This scheme can also be used for preparing for an array of individually trapped atoms. Such a platform holds promises for realizing a robust and scalable light–mater interface operating at individual quanta.
An integrated photonic platform is proposed for strong interactions between atomic beams and annealing-free high-quality-factor ( Q ) microresonators. We fabricated a thin-film, air-clad SiN microresonator with a loaded Q of 1.55 × 10 6 around the optical transition of 87 R b at 780 nm. This Q is achieved without annealing the devices at high temperatures, enabling future fully integrated platforms containing optoelectronic circuitry. The estimated single-photon Rabi frequency (2g) is 2 π × 64 M H z 100 nm above the resonator. Our simulation result indicates that miniature atomic beams with a longitudinal speed of 0.2 m/s to 30 m/s will interact strongly with our resonator, allowing for the detection of single-atom transits and realization of scalable single-atom photonic devices. Interactions between racetrack resonators and thermal atomic beams are also simulated.
Strong atom-photon interactions on scalable photonic platforms hold significant potential for both atomic and photonic quantum information platforms. In particular, trapping of a single atom on a planar photonic integrated resonator at the subwavelength distances required for strong coupling to the guided modes has remained an outstanding challenge. Here we demonstrate efficient trapping of a single ultracold rubidium atom within the evanescent field of an integrated silicon-nitride microring resonator, at distances of 150-200 nm from the chip surface. Efficient, single-stroke loading process is achieved using an evanescent-field mechanism related to Sisyphus cooling, in which a single scattering event dissipates the atom's kinetic energy and transfers it into a near-surface trap. We observe logarithmic scaling of trapping durations spanning from sub-millisecond timescales up to 1 second, without continuous cooling. The trapped atom couples efficiently to the resonator, enabling on-chip photon collection, photon antibunching, and Purcell-enhanced spontaneous emission with single-atom cooperativity exceeding unity. Our results establish the potential of CMOS-compatible chip-based atom-photon interfaces for scalable quantum photonic circuits.
The integration of cold neutral atoms with nanophotonic circuits offers significant potential as a light–matter interface for a wide range of applications ranging from fundamental studies in quantum optics, quantum many– body physics, quantum networks to even ultracold chemistry. Here, we describe the design and realization of a novel platform where an efficiently–coupled microring photonic circuit on a chip is integrated with a cold atom system. This platform is fully compatible with laser cooling and trapping atoms, which allows for direct loading of cold atoms in close vicinity of a microring circuit. We discuss our experimental scheme and efforts to prepare for an array of individually trapped atoms within the near field region of a whispering-gallery mode (WGM) in a microring resonator for realizing strong atom–light interactions. Beyond our original motivations in creating an atom-photon quantum interface, we also discuss a novel application – for direct photoassociation (PA) synthesis and quantum state detection of cold diatomic molecules without closed optical transitions. We estimate that the transfer efficiency to a molecular ground state and the subsequent state detection efficiency can approach unity with strong photon–molecule coupling that could be realized in our microring resonator circuit.
Strong coupling between atomic ensembles and high-quality optical cavities enables collective and nonlinear phenomena that are central to cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED). Many experiments have been performed on this topic, with most of them focusing on cold atoms. Here, we experimentally demonstrate collective strong coupling between thermal rubidium vapor and high-quality silicon nitride microring resonators (MRRs) on an integrated photonic chip. We observe cavity-mode splitting, with a measured collective coupling strength of g N / 2 π ≈ 1 G Hz and a collective cooperativity of C N ≈ 2 at 110 ∘ C , indicating coherent energy exchange between the atomic ensemble and the cavity mode despite rapid decoherence in the thermal vapor system. We infer an average of 20 atoms effectively participating in the collective interaction, yielding a single-atom cooperativity of C 0 = 0.1 and approaching the single-atom strong-coupling regime. Our results establish the integrated thermal vapor MRR platform as a robust, compact, and scalable system for studying collective and nonlinear phenomena in cQED.