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arXiv:2306.17620 · Physical Review A

Engineering quantum control with optical transitions induced by twisted light fields

T. Zanon-Willette, François Impens, E. Arimondo, David Wilkowski, А. В. Тайченачев, Valeriy I. Yudin

Published Oct 23, 2023• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A form of quantum control is proposed by applying twisted light, also known as optical vortex beams, to drive ultranarrow atomic transitions in neutral Ca, Mg, Yb, Sr, Hg, and Cd bosonic isotopes. This innovative all-optical spectroscopic method introduces spatially tailored electric and magnetic fields to fully rewrite atomic selection rules, reducing simultaneously probe-induced frequency shifts and additional action of external ac and dc field distortions. A twisted-light focused probe beam produces strong longitudinal electric and magnetic fields along the laser propagation axis, which opens the $^{1}S_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{3}P_{0}$ doubly forbidden clock transition with a high $E1M1$ two-photon excitation rate. This long-lived clock transition is thus immune to nonscalar electromagnetic perturbations. Zeeman components of the $M2$ magnetic quadrupole $^{1}S_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{3}P_{2}$ transition considered for quantum computation and simulation are now selectively driven by transverse or longitudinal field gradients with vanishing electric fields. These field gradients are manipulated by the mutual action of orbital and spin angular momentum of the light beam and are used in presence of tunable vector and tensor polarizabilities. A combination of these two different twisted-light induced clock transitions within a single quantum system, at the same magic wavelength and in presence of a common thermal environment, significantly reduces systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, it generates an optical synthetic frequency which efficiently limits the blackbody radiation shift and its variations at room temperature. Engineering light-matter interaction by optical vortices merged with composite pulses will ultimately benefit experimental atomic and molecular platforms targeting an optimal coherent control of quantum states, reliant quantum simulation, novel approaches to atomic interferometry, and precision tests of fundamental theories in physics and high-accuracy optical metrology.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.043513

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A form of quantum control is proposed by applying twisted light, also known as optical vortex beams, to drive ultranarrow atomic transitions in neutral Ca, Mg, Yb, Sr, Hg, and Cd bosonic isotopes. This innovative all-optical spectroscopic method introduces spatially tailored electric and magnetic fields to fully rewrite atomic selection rules, reducing simultaneously probe-induced frequency shifts and additional action of external ac and dc field distortions. A twisted-light focused probe beam produces strong longitudinal electric and magnetic fields along the laser propagation axis, which opens the 1S0\ensuremath→3P0^{1}S_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{3}P_{0}1S0​\ensuremath→3P0​ doubly forbidden clock transition with a high E1M1E1M1E1M1 two-photon excitation rate. This long-lived clock transition is thus immune to nonscalar electromagnetic perturbations. Zeeman components of the M2M2M2 magnetic quadrupole 1S0\ensuremath→3P2^{1}S_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{3}P_{2}1S0​\ensuremath→3P2​ transition considered for quantum computation and simulation are now selectively driven by transverse or longitudinal field gradients with vanishing electric fields. These field gradients are manipulated by the mutual action of orbital and spin angular momentum of the light beam and are used in presence of tunable vector and tensor polarizabilities. A combination of these two different twisted-light induced clock transitions within a single quantum system, at the same magic wavelength and in presence of a common thermal environment, significantly reduces systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, it generates an optical synthetic frequency which efficiently limits the blackbody radiation shift and its variations at room temperature. Engineering light-matter interaction by optical vortices merged with composite pulses will ultimately benefit experimental atomic and molecular platforms targeting an optimal coherent control of quantum states, reliant quantum simulation, novel approaches to atomic interferometry, and precision tests of fundamental theories in physics and high-accuracy optical metrology.
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— Modern capabilities in quantum state engineering of ultracold matter and precise control of light fields now permit accurate control of interactions between matter and field to suit applications for precision tests of fundamental physics. We report on our recent development of a highly stable and accurate optical atomic clock based on ultracold neutral Sr atoms confined in an optical lattice. We discuss precision tools for the lattice clock, including stabilized lasers with sub-Hz linewidth, femtosecond-comb based technology allowing accurate clock comparison in both microwave and optical domains, and clock transfer over optical fibers. With microkelvin Sr atoms confined in an optical lattice that provide a zero differential a.c. Stark shift between two clock states, we achieve a resonance quality factor >2×10 on the S0 − P0 doubly forbidden Sr clock transition at 698 nm. High resolution spectroscopy of spin-polarized atoms is used for both high-performance clock operations and accurate atomic structure measurement. The overall systematic uncertainty of the clock has been evaluated at the 10−16 level, while the stability approaches low 10−15 at 1 s. These developments in precise engineering of lightatom interactions can be extended to the field of ultracold molecules, bringing new prospects for precision measurements, quantum control, and determinations of the constancy of the fundamental constants.
Twisted light has received a lot of attention in recent years. And there are justified reasons for this. The properties of twisted light are unusual and differ fundamentally from the plane-wave properties. The phase fronts of these light beams have a helical structure, giving them the name twisted. This helical phase structure originates from the well-defined orbital angular momentum (OAM) that they carry along their propagation direction and in addition to the spin angular momentum (SAM). Moreover, they have a characteristic intensity profile, which consists of concentric rings with a central minimum, and a phase singularity in the beam center. This thesis is based on two main parts, each dealing with a different aspect of twisted light. These investigations are carried out using Bessel beams, one type of twisted light. Twisted light beams are cylindrically symmetrical. Therefore, they are defined on the basis of circularly polarized light. This fact leads to the first question: Is it possible to generate twisted light in other polarization states? In this work, we derive how this can be achieved by using the superposition principle and how this can be used to construct linearly, radially, or azimuthally polarized Bessel beams. The focus in the second part is on excitations of atoms by twisted Bessel beams. In particular, we analyze how the use of twisted light can modify individual atomic multipole transitions. The obtained results show that for an efficient modification a precise localization of the target atom is required. In the last chapter, both aspects are combined. We analyze transitions between magnetic hyperfine states in a single trapped atom (or ion), which is exposed to an additional external magnetic field. The presented calculations for these multipole excitations are based on a formalism that accounts for the alignment of the applied external magnetic field with respect to the light propagation direction, and additionally different polarization states of the radiation field are considered. The obtained results indicate that twisted light could be of particular interest for precision experiments. One possible application is the use in single-ion clocks. The work shows that high multipole orders of the vortex beams allow excitations in the intensity minimum in the center of these beams without causing large disturbances, and thus may enable a significant reduction of the light shift in atomic transitions.
Experiments with vortex beams have shown a surge of interest in controlling cold atoms. Most of the controlling protocols are dominated by circularly polarized light due to its ability to induce vector polarization at atoms, which is impossible for paraxial linearly polarized light. Here we develop a theory for frequency dependent polarizability of an atomic state interacting with a focused linearly polarized vortex beam. The naturally induced spin-orbit coupling in this type of linearly polarized beam produces vector component of the valence polarizability to an atomic state, obeying the total angular-momentum conservation of the beam. The theory is employed on 87Sr+^{87}\mathrm{Sr}^{+}87Sr+ to accurately calculate the magic wavelengths for the clock transitions and tune-out wavelengths for the clock states using the relativistic coupled-cluster method. The induced vector component in the dynamic polarizability due to the linearly polarized focused vortex beam promotes a fictitious magnetic field to the atomic state. We demonstrate that this fictitious magnetic field, depending on the focusing angle and orbital angular momentum of the beam, improves the flexibility of the coherent heteronuclear spin oscillations in a spin-1 mixture of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb and 23Na^{23}\mathrm{Na}23Na atoms.
The physics of optical vortices, also known as twisted light, is now a well-established and a growing branch of optical physics with a number of important applications and significant interdisciplinary connections.Optical vortex fields of widely varying forms and degrees of complexity can be realised in the laboratory by a host of different means.The interference between such beams with designated orbital angular momenta and optical spins (the latter is associated with wave polarisations) can be structured to conform to various geometrical arrangements.The focus of this review is on how such tailored forms of light can exert a controllable influence on atoms with which they interact.The main physical effects involve atoms in motion due to application of optical forces.The now mature area of atom optics has had notable successes both of fundamental nature and in applications such as atom lasers, atom guides and Bose-Einstein condensates.The concepts in atom optics encompass not only atomic beams interacting with light, but atomic motion in general as influenced by optical and other fields.Our primary concern in this review is on atoms in structured light where, in particular, the twisted nature of the light is made highly complex with additional features due to wave polarisation.These features bring to the fore a variety of physical phenomena not realisable in the context of atomic motion in more conventional forms of laser light.Atoms near resonance with such structured light fields become subject to electromagnetic fields with complex polarisation and phase distributions, as well as intricately structured intensity gradients and radiative forces.From the combined effect of optical spin and orbital angular momenta, atoms may also experience forces and torques involving an interplay between the internal and centre of mass degrees of freedom.Such interactions lead to new forms of processes including scattering, trapping and rotation and, as a result, they exhibit characteristic new features at the micro-scale and below.A number of distinctive properties involving angular momentum exchange between the light and the atoms are highlighted, and prospective applications are discussed.Comparison is made between the theoretical predictions in this area and the corresponding experiments that have been reported to date.
Synopsis In this work, we present how the AC-Stark shift can be suppressed by using twisted light beams for photoexcitations. Twisted light beams carry a non-zero projection of orbital angular momentum (OAM) onto their propagation direction, have a helical phase front and an intensity minimum in the beam center. Atoms located in this minimum experience a reduced AC-Stark shift and, therefore, twisted beams may be considered as valuable tool to drive atomic clock transitions. In this contribution, particular emphasis is paid to the electric-octupole (E3) transition 2 S1/2 → 2 F7/2 in the 171 Yb+ ion.