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arXiv:2010.03559 · SciPost Physics

A scanning quantum cryogenic atom microscope at 6 K

Stephen Taylor, Fan Yang, Brandon A. Freudenstein, Benjamin Lev

Published Mar 9, 2021• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope (SQCRAMscope) is a quantum sensor in which a quasi-1D quantum gas images electromagnetic fields emitted from a nearby sample. We report improvements to the microscope. Cryogen usage is reduced by replacing the liquid cryostat with a closed-cycle system and modified cold finger, and cryogenic cooling is enhanced by adding a radiation shield. The minimum accessible sample temperature is reduced from 35~K to 5.7~K while maintaining low sample vibrations. A new sample mount is easier to exchange, and quantum gas preparation is streamlined.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphys.10.3.060

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The Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope (SQCRAMscope) is a quantum sensor in which a quasi-1D quantum gas images electromagnetic fields emitted from a nearby sample. We report improvements to the microscope. Cryogen usage is reduced by replacing the liquid cryostat with a closed-cycle system and modified cold finger, and cryogenic cooling is enhanced by adding a radiation shield. The minimum accessible sample temperature is reduced from 35K to 5.7K while maintaining low sample vibrations. A new sample mount is easier to exchange, and quantum gas preparation is streamlined.
Microscopic imaging of local magnetic fields provides a window into the organizing principles of complex and technologically relevant condensed-matter materials.However, a wide variety of intriguing strongly correlated and topologically nontrivial materials exhibit poorly understood phenomena outside the detection capability of state-of-the-art high-sensitivity high-resolution scanning probe magnetometers.We introduce a quantum-noise-limited scanning probe magnetometer that can operate from room-to-cryogenic temperatures with unprecedented dc-field sensitivity and micron-scale resolution.The Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope (SQCRAMscope) employs a magnetically levitated atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), thereby providing immunity to conductive and blackbody radiative heating.The SQCRAMscope has a field sensitivity of 1.4 nT per resolution-limited point (approximately 2 μm) or 6 nT= ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p per point at its duty cycle.Compared to point-by-point sensors, the long length of the BEC provides a naturally parallel measurement, allowing one to measure nearly 100 points with an effective field sensitivity of 600 pT= ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p for each point during the same time as a point-by-point scanner measures these points sequentially.Moreover, it has a noise floor of 300 pT and provides nearly 2 orders of magnitude improvement in magnetic flux sensitivity (down to 10 -6 Φ 0 = ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p ) over previous atomic probe magnetometers capable of scanning near samples.These capabilities are carefully benchmarked by imaging magnetic fields arising from microfabricated wire patterns in a system where samples may be scanned, cryogenically cooled, and easily exchanged.We anticipate the SQCRAMscope will provide charge-transport images at temperatures from room temperature to 4 K in unconventional superconductors and topologically nontrivial materials.
Microscopic imaging of local magnetic fields provides a window into the inner workings of complex and technologically relevant materials. The authors present an extremely sensitive scanning-probe microscope for imaging charge transport in strongly correlated and topologically nontrivial systems, from ambient down to liquid-helium temperature. This scanning quantum cryogenic atom microscope (SQCRAMscope) will change research spanning disciplines from basic condensed matter physics to the engineering of hybrid quantum systems.
The SQCRAMscope is a recently realized Scanning Quantum CRyogenic Atom Microscope that utilizes an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate to measure magnetic fields emanating from solid-state samples. The quantum sensor does so with unprecedented DC sensitivity at micron resolution from room-to-cryogenic temperatures. An additional advantage of the SQCRAMscope is the preservation of optical access to the sample: Magnetometry imaging of, e.g., electron transport may be performed in concert with other imaging techniques. This multimodal imaging capability can be brought to bear with great effect in the study of nematicity in iron-pnictide high-temperature superconductors, where the relationship between electronic and structural symmetry-breaking resulting in a nematic phase is under debate. Here, we combine the SQCRAMscope with an in situ microscope that measures optical birefringence near the surface. This enables simultaneous and spatially resolved detection of both bulk and near-surface manifestations of nematicity via transport and structural deformation channels, respectively. By performing the first local measurement of emergent resistivity anisotropy in iron pnictides, we observe sharp, nearly concurrent transport and structural transitions. More broadly, these measurements demonstrate the SQCRAMscope's ability to reveal important insights into the physics of complex quantum materials.
Cryogenic confocal microscopy is a powerful method for studying solid state quantum devices such as single photon sources and optically controlled qubits. While the vast majority of such studies have been conducted at temperatures of a few Kelvin, experiments involving fragile quantum effects often require lower operating temperatures. To also allow for electrical dynamic control, microwave connectivity is required. For polarization-sensitive studies, free space optical access is advantageous compared to fiber coupling. Here we present a confocal microscope in a dilution refrigerator providing all the above features at temperatures below 100 mK. The installed high frequency cabling meets the requirements for state of the art spin qubit experiments. As another unique advantage of our system, the sample fitting inside a large puck can be exchanged while keeping the cryostat cold with minimal realignment. Assessing the performance of the instrument, we demonstrate confocal imaging, sub-nanosecond modulation of the emission wavelength of a suitable sample and an electron temperature of 76 mK. While the instrument was constructed primarily with the development of optical interfaces to electrically controlled qubits in mind, it can be used for many experiments involving quantum transport, solid state quantum optics and microwave-optical transducers.
Cryogenic confocal microscopy is a powerful method for studying solid state quantum devices such as single photon sources and optically controlled qubits. While the vast majority of such studies have been conducted at temperatures of a few Kelvin, experiments involving fragile quantum effects often require lower operating temperatures. To also allow for electrical dynamic control, microwave connectivity is required. For polarization-sensitive studies, free space optical access is advantageous compared to fiber coupling. Here we present a confocal microscope in a dilution refrigerator providing all the above features at temperatures below 100 mK. The installed high frequency cabling meets the requirements for state-of-the-art spin qubit experiments. As another unique advantage of our system, the sample fitting inside a large puck can be exchanged while keeping the cryostat cold with minimal realignment. Assessing the performance of the instrument, we demonstrate confocal imaging, sub-nanosecond modulation of the emission wavelength of a suitable sample, and an electron temperature of 76 mK. While the instrument was constructed primarily with the development of optical interfaces to electrically controlled qubits in mind, it can be used for many experiments involving quantum transport, solid state quantum optics, and microwave-optical transducers.
We report on the design and performance of a cryogenic (300 mK) near-field scanning microwave microscope. It uses a microwave resonator as the near-field sensor, operating at a frequency of 6 GHz and microwave probing amplitudes down to 100 μV, approaching low enough photon population (N ∼ 1000) of the resonator such that coherent quantum manipulation becomes feasible. The resonator is made out of a miniaturized distributed fractal superconducting circuit that is integrated with the probing tip, micromachined to be compact enough such that it can be mounted directly on a quartz tuning-fork, and used for parallel operation as an atomic force microscope (AFM). The resonator is magnetically coupled to a transmission line for readout, and to achieve enhanced sensitivity we employ a Pound-Drever-Hall measurement scheme to lock to the resonance frequency. We achieve a well localized near-field around the tip such that the microwave resolution is comparable to the AFM resolution, and a capacitive sensitivity down to 6.4 × 10(-20) F/Hz, limited by mechanical noise. We believe that the results presented here are a significant step towards probing quantum systems at the nanoscale using near-field scanning microwave microscopy.