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arXiv:1912.00062 · Optics Letters

Manipulating cold atoms through a high-resolution compact system based on a multimode fiber

Nicolas Vitrant, Kilian Müller, Sébastien Garcia, Alexei Ourjoumtsev

Published Feb 11, 2020• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that a standard multimode optical fiber can act as a high-resolution ultra-compact tool to manipulate cold atoms in setups with limited optical access. Spatial light modulators allow us to generate control beams at the in-vacuum fiber end by digital optical phase conjugation. With no additional in-vacuum optics, this system reaches a $ \sim 1\;{\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}} $∼1µm resolution for a transverse size of only 225 µm. As a demonstration, we use it to optically transport cold atoms towards the in-vacuum fiber end, to load them in optical microtraps, and to re-cool them in optical molasses. This work shows that the rapid progress of optics in complex media opens new, to the best of our knowledge, perspectives for spatially constrained quantum technology platforms combining cold atoms with other optical, electronic, or opto-mechanical systems.

DOI
10.1364/ol.385857

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We show that a standard multimode optical fiber can act as a high-resolution ultra-compact tool to manipulate cold atoms in setups with limited optical access. Spatial light modulators allow us to generate control beams at the in-vacuum fiber end by digital optical phase conjugation. With no additional in-vacuum optics, this system reaches a ∼1  \unicodex00B5m\sim 1\;{\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}}∼1\unicodex00B5m∼1µm resolution for a transverse size of only 225 µm. As a demonstration, we use it to optically transport cold atoms towards the in-vacuum fiber end, to load them in optical microtraps, and to re-cool them in optical molasses. This work shows that the rapid progress of optics in complex media opens new, to the best of our knowledge, perspectives for spatially constrained quantum technology platforms combining cold atoms with other optical, electronic, or opto-mechanical systems.
A high imaging resolution or a tight focus of a laser beam imposes a certain minimal numerical aperture (NA) of the optical system. Macroscopic high NA lenses constraint strongly the spatial organization of experiments, in particular when imaging or trapping cold atoms inside a vacuum chamber. Multimode fibers, in conjunction with spatial light modulators, offer an interesting alternative to high NA lenses. Indeed, they are flexible optical waveguides with very small transverse dimensions (∼ 100 μm), and reasonably high NA (up to 0.5). For those reasons, the use of multimode fibers for imaging or laser manipulation purposes has been widely studied in the past years. Here, we transfer these techniques to the field of cold atoms with a multimode fiber forming a compact optical bridge between the inside and the outside of an ultra-high vacuum chamber. We manipulate atoms with laser beams produced through the fiber by digital optical phase conjugation with a spatial light modulator. We are able to transport a small cloud of cold rubidium atoms with a moving optical lattice at about 200 μm from the fiber tip. We can then load them in small optical tweezers with a waist of 1.2 μm. By characterizing the propagation of light modes inside the fiber, we numerically invert its transformation and we reconstruct absorption images of the trapped atoms with a resolution of approximately 1 μm. These results pave the way towards the efficient use of multimode fibers in spatially constrained quantum technology platforms relying on cold atoms.
We develop an ultracompact high-resolution imaging system for cold atoms. Its only in-vacuum element is a multimode optical fiber with a diameter of 230 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$, which simultaneously collects light and guides it out of the vacuum chamber. External adaptive optics allow us to image cold Rb\mathrm{Rb}Rb atoms with approximately 1-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ resolution over a $100\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}100\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ field of view. These optics can be easily rearranged to switch between fast absorption imaging and high-sensitivity fluorescence imaging. This system is particularly suited for hybrid quantum-engineering platforms where cold atoms are combined with optical cavities, superconducting circuits, or optomechanical devices restricting optical access.
High-dimensional photonic operations are an important resource for quantum information processing, yet achieving scalability and long-distance operation remains a formidable challenge. Here, we demonstrate reconfigurable high-dimensional spatial-mode state synthesis using spatial-mode-encoded qu d its in a 20-m-long multimode fiber. By exploiting the ultra-long coherence of heralded single photons from a warm 87 Rb atomic ensemble, we overcome the modal dispersion limits that restricted previous short-distance demonstrations. Using digital optical phase conjugation, we deterministically synthesize spatial-mode states structured by target unitary operations, including generalized Pauli operators and quantum Fourier transforms, through the complex fiber medium. We achieve process fidelities exceeding 92.5(4)% for dimensions up to d = 7. These results establish long multimode fibers as a reconfigurable platform for high-dimensional quantum state synthesis and transport in fiber-based quantum information processing.
Programmable arrays of ultracold atoms are a leading platform for quantum computation and simulation, enabling state-of-the-art implementations of quantum error correction, and analog simulations of Hubbard models that address open problems in condensed matter physics. In these systems, all local control is mediated through precisely shaped optical fields, and so the challenge of managing many-body quantum states becomes an exercise in optical design. In particular, one wishes for fast, flexible control with low disorder and heating, and access to large arrays with many atoms. An ideal optical system therefore must generate arbitrary patterns with high spatial resolution and low disorder, and alter these patterns on a timescale that is faster than the relevant atomic dynamics. Here, we present an optical system that is comparable to previous approaches in scale, while advancing all other axes. We demonstrate arbitrary pattern generation with 10−310^{-3}10−3 intensity resolution, a frame rate of >84>84>84 MFPS (megaframes per second), and a spatial resolution of 83×5283 \times 5283×52 beam waists (with 11×5211 \times 5211×52 waists accessible via a single 404040 GHz electro-optic modulator). These capabilities unlock a new class of experiments. We develop and numerically validate a scheme for fully programmable Hubbard models, with time-dependent control over local chemical potentials, tunneling amplitudes, on-site interactions, and patterns of artificial magnetic flux. The same architecture performs fast, arbitrary permutations of tweezers in 2D, decoupling optical constraints from the design of high-rate error-correcting codes.