Towards the creation of Fock states of atoms

David Medellín, Gabriel Price, Kirsten Viering +2 more

William J. Mullin, Franck Laloë

Benjamin T. H. Varcoe

The one atom maser is an archetype experiment of quantum optics, where the interaction is between the basic quantum components of a single atoms and a single mode field, uncluttered by unwanted side effects. Thus the one atom maser is able to examine the most fundamental aspects of the atom light interaction. In this paper we review three of the most recent experiments on the very topical subject of photon Fock state creation. Namely the creation Fock states via trapping states, dynamical Fock state preparation using state reduction of lower state atoms and finally the creation of Fock states on demand. In the two decades since its first operation, the one atom maser continues to operate at the forefront of quantum optics research having produced many first class results. We present some taste of future, as we turn the micromaser to quantum computing and the creation of exotic entangled states.

Benjamin T. H. Varcoe, S. Brattke, HERBERT WALTHER

Many applications in quantum information or quantum computing require radiation with a fixed number of photons (called Fock or number states) and this special issue demonstrates the real increase in interest in this area. In this paper, we review three recent papers in which we discussed the creation of photon number states in the micromaser and discuss new results. In the first experiment, Fock states were created in steady state via trapping states. Some new results are presented in this section showing a remarkable improvement of our ability to create these states. We then review a second method of dynamic Fock state creation using state reduction of lower state atoms. In this experiment, we also observed the purity of the Fock state that was created via the observation of Rabi oscillations of a probe atom. Finally, we discuss the results of the third experiment that we performed which was an experimental demonstration of a method of creating Fock states on demand.

Saad S. M. Hassan, R. Bullough, Ravinder Rupchand Puri

Medellin Salas, David de Jesus

This dissertation presents the implementation of a technique to generate atomic Fock states of Lithium 6 with ultra-high fidelity, called laser culling. Fock states, atomic states with a definite number of particles, are a mandatory step for studying few-body quantum phenomena such as quantum tunneling, quantum entanglement, and serve as building blocks for quantum simulators. The creation of ultra-high fidelity Fock states begins with a degenerate Fermi gas in an optical dipole trap. Being fermions, lithium-6 atoms fill the energy levels of the dipole trap with 2 atoms per energy level. Introducing a magnetic field gradient creates a linear potential that tilts the potential produced by the optical dipole trap. The initially bound energy levels become quasi-bound states, each with a different lifetime. By exploiting the difference between these lifetimes, one can generate a single pair of atoms in the ground state of the trap with fidelities that can exceed 99.9%. This dissertation first presents the details of the design and construction of an apparatus for laser culling, and then reports on the progress made towards the creation of atomic Fock states with ultra-high fidelity.