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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

On-chip optical trapping for atomic applications

Maximillian A. Perez, Evan A. Salim, Daniel Farkas, Janet Duggan, Megan Ivory, Dana Z. Anderson

Published Sep 16, 2014• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

To simplify applications that rely on optical trapping of cold and ultracold atoms, ColdQuanta is developing techniques to incorporate miniature optical components onto in-vacuum atom chips. The result is a hybrid atom chip that combines an in-vacuum micro-optical bench for optical control with an atom chip for magnetic control. Placing optical components on a chip inside of the vacuum system produces a compact system that can be targeted to specific experiments, in this case the generation of optical lattices. Applications that can benefit from this technology include timekeeping, inertial sensing, gravimetry, quantum information, and emulation of quantum many-body systems. ColdQuanta’s GlasSi atom chip technology incorporates glass windows in the plane of a silicon atom chip. In conjunction with the in-vacuum micro-optical bench, optical lattices can be generated within a few hundred microns of an atom chip window through which single atomic lattice sites can be imaged with sub-micron spatial resolution. The result is a quantum gas microscope that allows optical lattices to be studied at the level of single lattice sites. Similar to what ColdQuanta has achieved with magneto-optical traps (MOTs) in its miniMOT system and with Bose- Einstein condensates (BECs) in its RuBECi(R) system, ColdQuanta seeks to apply the on-chip optical bench technology to studies of optical lattices in a commercially available, turnkey system. These techniques are currently being considered for lattice experiments in NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) slated for flight on the International Space Station.

DOI
10.1117/12.2064311

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To simplify applications that rely on optical trapping of cold and ultracold atoms, ColdQuanta is developing techniques to incorporate miniature optical components onto in-vacuum atom chips. The result is a hybrid atom chip that combines an in-vacuum micro-optical bench for optical control with an atom chip for magnetic control. Placing optical components on a chip inside of the vacuum system produces a compact system that can be targeted to specific experiments, in this case the generation of optical lattices. Applications that can benefit from this technology include timekeeping, inertial sensing, gravimetry, quantum information, and emulation of quantum many-body systems. ColdQuanta’s GlasSi atom chip technology incorporates glass windows in the plane of a silicon atom chip. In conjunction with the in-vacuum micro-optical bench, optical lattices can be generated within a few hundred microns of an atom chip window through which single atomic lattice sites can be imaged with sub-micron spatial resolution. The result is a quantum gas microscope that allows optical lattices to be studied at the level of single lattice sites. Similar to what ColdQuanta has achieved with magneto-optical traps (MOTs) in its miniMOT system and with Bose- Einstein condensates (BECs) in its RuBECi(R) system, ColdQuanta seeks to apply the on-chip optical bench technology to studies of optical lattices in a commercially available, turnkey system. These techniques are currently being considered for lattice experiments in NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) slated for flight on the International Space Station.
A growing subfield of atomic physics is focused on the miniaturization of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)-producing apparatus. Perhaps the largest step forward in this area was the development of the so-called “atom chip.” These microfabricated devices can create tight traps for neutral atoms. In 2018, NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) was launched and installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It utilizes a modified miniature atom chip apparatus produced by ColdQuanta called the RuBECi. In this thesis, we present progress towards achieving BEC in a Bates-owned RuBECi, particularly focusing on the laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping stages of the BEC process.
A high-resolution projection and imaging system for ultracold atoms is implemented using a compound silicon and glass atom chip. The atom chip is metalized to enable magnetic trapping while glass regions enable high numerical aperture optical access to atoms residing in the magnetic trap about 100 μm below the chip surface. The atom chip serves as a wall of the vacuum system, which enables the use of commercial microscope components for projection and imaging. Holographically generated light patterns are used to optically slice a cigar-shaped magnetic trap into separate regions; this has been used to simultaneously generate up to four Bose-condensates. Using fluorescence techniques, we have demonstrated in-trap imaging resolution down to 2.5 μm.
Compact, robust ultracold atomic sources are essential for onboard quantum sensors with applications in inertial sensing and geodesy. However, producing ultracold atoms like Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) increases the complexity of the system and often involves low production rates and high power consumption. Atom chips [1] offer rapid ultracold atom production through tight magnetic traps and are compatible with onboard experiments [2]. To address challenges such as optical beam alignment, grating magneto-optical traps (GMOTs) [3] have been developed, facilitating miniaturization of atomic clocks [4] and atom interferometers [5].
Since their initial production in 1995, the study of Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) has offered exciting new insights into many fields including quantum mechanics and solid state physics. Atom chips, non-conducting surfaces with conducting lithographic traces printed on them, have proven successful in generating lower power magnetic traps for the formation of BECs. The combination of their lower power consumption, small form factor, and dense traps makes atom chips a promising way to face a ubiquitous challenge in the study of BECs: the effect of the earth’s gravitational field. To avoid these effects the NASA Cold Atom Laboratory aims to create BECs aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using an atom chip. This thesis presents the development of a similar atom chip based BEC experiment at Bates College, which will serve as a functional testbed for future research aboard the ISS. Both a theoretical background and a description of the experimental process by which a BEC is formed on an atom chip are provided. This process is primarily driven by laser cooling and magnetic trapping techniques. A 2D+ Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT), loaded from vapor pressure, is used as a slowed source of 87Rb in order to create a 3D MOT. We present measurements of the performance of both MOTs, and outline a path forward to condensation on the chip-based magnetic trap through use of radiofrequency evaporative cooling.
Atom optics has been a highly active field of research with many scientific breakthroughs over the past two decades, largely due to successful advances in laser technology, microfabrication techniques, and the development of laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. This dissertation details several atom optics experiments with the motivation to develop tools and techniques for precision atom wave interferometry. It provides background information about atom optics and the fundamentals behind laser cooling and trapping, including basic techniques for cold gas thermometry and absorptive detection of atoms. A brief overview of magnetic trapping and guiding in tight wire-based traps is also provided before the experimental details are presented. ❧ We developed a novel laser source of 780 nm light using frequency-doubled 1560 nm fiber amplifier. This laser system provided up to a Watt of tunable frequency stabilized light for two Rb laser cooling and trapping experiments. One system generates Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical trap while the second is based on atom chip magnetic traps. The atom chip system, detailed in this thesis, was designed and built to develop the tools necessary for transport and loading large numbers of cold atoms and explore the potential for guided atom interferometry. Techniques and results from this experiment are presented, including an efficient magnetic transport and loading method to deliver cold atom to atom chip traps. We also developed a modeling tool for the magnetic fields formed by coiled wire geometries, as well as planar wire patterns. These models helped us design traps and determine adiabatic transportation of cold atoms between macro-scale traps and micro-traps formed on atom chips. Having achieved near unity transfer efficiency, we demonstrated that this approach promises to be a consistent method for loading large numbers of atoms into micro-traps. Furthermore, we discuss an in situ imaging technique to investigate magnetic field contours of the traps and the dynamics of atoms within those confining potentials. We also controlled the propagation along the atom chip guides by accelerating atoms with longitudinal magnetic gradients, and investigated an atom focusing scheme. ❧ While the atom chip wire guides perform a role analogous to optical fibers guiding light waves, ""free space"" cold atoms offer great opportunity for precision interferometry. We describe a second on-going atom optics experiment that measures gravity gradients using a pair of atom fountain interferometers separated by one meter. We have demonstrated Gravity Gradiometer resolution down to 4x10⁻⁹ g/m using a 40 kg test mass. The atomic physics subsystem is described in detail, including the vacuum, cold atom source, optics, magnetic coils and shields, and vibration isolation and compensation. The system is designed to be a compact, robust, transportable instrument, taking strides towards future gravity gradient measurements in the field. In the realm of space applications, there has been interest for micro-gravity science experiments aboard the International Space Station, along with instrument development for gravity mapping of Earth and planetary bodies with satellite-based instruments. Furthermore, there are ground-based applications for gravity imaging of local density distributions, precision measurement of gravity, as well as proposals for redefining the kilogram, detecting gravitational waves and determining the Gravitational constant.
We miniaturized the complex optical system responsible for the cooling, pumping, and imaging of an on-chip-based cold-atom inertial sensor. This optical bench uses bonded miniature optics and includes all the necessary optical functions. The bench has a volume of 35×25×5cm 3 . We developed a laser frequency lock adapted to the optical bench using saturated absorption in a rubidium cell. The entire laser source based on frequency doubling of 1.56 µm fiber lasers, including the control system and the saturated absorption module, fits in a 5 U rack. Using the miniaturized bench, we realized two- and three-dimensional magneto-optical traps for rubidium 87 atoms.