Micro-resonators coupled to atoms in an optical lattice

Brian D. Fields, May E. Kim, Tzu-Han Chang +2 more

Haruka Tanji, Ian D. Leroux, Monika Schleier-Smith +4 more

Liron Stern, Roy Zektzer, Noa Mazurski +1 more

Abstract The coupling of atomic and photonic resonances serves as an important tool for enhancing light‐matter interactions and enables the observation of multitude of fascinating and fundamental phenomena. Here, by exploiting the platform of atomic‐cladding wave guides, the resonant coupling of rubidium vapor and an atomic cladding micro ring resonator is experimentally demonstrated. Specifically, cavity‐atom coupling in the form of Fano resonances having a distinct dependency on the relative frequency detuning between the photonic and the atomic resonances is observed. Moreover, significant enhancement of the efficiency of all optical switching in the V‐type pump‐probe scheme is demonstrated. The coupled system of micro‐ring resonator and atomic vapor is a promising building block for a variety of light vapor experiments, as it offers a very small footprint, high degree of integration and extremely strong confinement of light and vapor. As such it may be used for important applications, such as all optical switching, dispersion engineering (e.g. slow and fast light) and metrology, as well as for the observation of important effects such as strong coupling, and Purcell enhancement. image

David Hunger, Stephan Camerer, Theodor W. Hänsch +8 more

This work investigates different coupling mechanisms between ultracold atoms and mechanical oscillators. In a first experiment, atom-surface force is used to couple the vibrations of a mechanical cantilever to the motion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a magnetic microtrap on a chip. The atoms are trapped at sub-micrometer distance from the cantilever surface. Coupling is used to read out the cantilever vibrations with the atoms. Coupling via surface forces could be employed to couple atoms to molecular-scale oscillators such as carbon nanotubes. In a second experiment, coupling via a 1D optical lattice that is formed by a laser beam retroreflected from the cantilever tip. The optical lattice serves as a transfer rod which couples vibrations of the cantilever to the atoms and vice versa.

Christopher R. Monroe

P. Latawiec, M. J. Burek, V. Venkataraman +1 more

Tapered silica fibers are often used to rapidly probe the optical properties of micro-resonators. However, their low refractive index precludes phase-matching when coupling to high-index micro-resonators, reducing efficiency. Here, we demonstrate efficient optical coupling from tapered fibers to high-index micro-resonators by loading the fibers with an ancillary adiabatic waveguide-coupler fabricated via angled-etching. We demonstrate greatly enhanced coupling to a silicon multimode micro-resonator when compared to coupling via the bare fiber only. Signatures of resonator optical bistability are observed at high powers. This scheme can be applied to resonators of any size and material, increasing the functional scope of fiber coupling.