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

Towards coherent manipulation of the ground states of single cesium atom confined in a microscopic far-off-resonance optical dipole trap

Wen-Ting Diao, Jun He, Bei Liu, Junmin Wang

Published Nov 29, 2012• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This work deals with the cooling and trapping of single cesium (Cs) atoms in a large-magnetic-gradient magneto-optical trap (MOT) and the confinement of single Cs atoms in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap (FORT). The experiment setup is based on two large-numerical-aperture lens assemblies which allow us to strongly focus a 1064-nm TEM00-mode Gaussian laser beam to a 1/e2 radius of ~ 2.3 μm to form a microscopic FORT for isolating single atom with environment and to efficiently collect the laser-induced-fluorescence photons emitted by single atoms for detecting and recognizing single atom’s internal state. We have tried both of “bottom-up” and “top-down” loading schemes to confine single atoms in the microscopic FORT. In the “bottom-up” scheme, we have successfully prepared single Cs atoms in the MOT and transferred it into FORT with a probability of almost 100%. In the “top-down” scheme, we have achieved ~ 74% of single atom loading probability in the FORT using light-assisted collisions induced by blue detuning laser and with prepared many Cs atoms in the MOT. The relaxation time in hyperfine level of ground state of trapped single Cs atom is measured to be ~5.4 s. To coherently manipulate atomic quantum bits (qubit) encoded in the clock states (mF = 0 states in Fg = 3 and 4 hyperfine levels) of single Cs atom via the two-photon simulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), we have prepared two phase-locked laser beams with a frequency difference of ~ 9.192 GHz by optically injecting an 852-nm master laser to lock the +1-order sideband of a 9-GHz current-modulated slave diode laser. The two phase-locked laser beams are used to drive STIRAP process in the Λ-type three-level system consists of Cs |6S1/2 Fg = 4, mF = 0> and |6S1/2 Fg = 3, mF = 0< long-lived clock states and Cs |6S1/2 Fe = 4, mF = +1 > excited state with the single-photon detuning of ~ -20 GHz. Rabi flopping experiments are in progress.

DOI
10.1117/12.999887

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This work deals with the cooling and trapping of single cesium (Cs) atoms in a large-magnetic-gradient magneto-optical trap (MOT) and the confinement of single Cs atoms in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap (FORT). The experiment setup is based on two large-numerical-aperture lens assemblies which allow us to strongly focus a 1064-nm TEM00-mode Gaussian laser beam to a 1/e2 radius of ~ 2.3 μm to form a microscopic FORT for isolating single atom with environment and to efficiently collect the laser-induced-fluorescence photons emitted by single atoms for detecting and recognizing single atom’s internal state. We have tried both of “bottom-up” and “top-down” loading schemes to confine single atoms in the microscopic FORT. In the “bottom-up” scheme, we have successfully prepared single Cs atoms in the MOT and transferred it into FORT with a probability of almost 100%. In the “top-down” scheme, we have achieved ~ 74% of single atom loading probability in the FORT using light-assisted collisions induced by blue detuning laser and with prepared many Cs atoms in the MOT. The relaxation time in hyperfine level of ground state of trapped single Cs atom is measured to be ~5.4 s. To coherently manipulate atomic quantum bits (qubit) encoded in the clock states (mF = 0 states in Fg = 3 and 4 hyperfine levels) of single Cs atom via the two-photon simulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), we have prepared two phase-locked laser beams with a frequency difference of ~ 9.192 GHz by optically injecting an 852-nm master laser to lock the +1-order sideband of a 9-GHz current-modulated slave diode laser. The two phase-locked laser beams are used to drive STIRAP process in the Λ-type three-level system consists of Cs |6S1/2 Fg = 4, mF = 0> and |6S1/2 Fg = 3, mF = 0< long-lived clock states and Cs |6S1/2 Fe = 4, mF = +1 > excited state with the single-photon detuning of ~ -20 GHz. Rabi flopping experiments are in progress.
Based on our work on single cesium atoms trapped in a large-magnetic-gradient vapour-cell magneto-optical trap (MOT), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is remarkably improved. Also a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap (FORT) formed by a strongly-focused 1064 nm single frequency Nd:YVO 4 laser beam is introduced. One cesium atom is prepared in the MOT, and then it can transfer successfully between the MOT and the FORT which is overlapped with the MOT. Utilizing the effective transfer, the lifetime of single atoms trapped in the FORT is measured to be 6.9 ± 0.3 s. Thus we provide a system where the atomic qubit can be coherently manipulated.
Single-atom-based single-photon source has several advantages, such as narrow bandwidth, wavelength matching with the absorption line of the same atomic ensemble, and insensitivity to the environment disturbing, and it is very important not only for basic researches in quantum optic field but also for applications in quantum information processing. In this paper, we report the generation of a 10-MHz-repetition-rate triggered single-photon source at 852 nm based on a trapped single cesium atom in a far-off-resonance microscopic optical dipole trap (FORT). To generate an optical dipole trap, a far-red-detuned 1064 nm laser beam is tightly focused by using a high numerical aperture lens, a typical trap depth is 2 mK and trap waist is 2.3 m. To obtain a maximum probability of pulsed excitation, the frequency of the pulsed laser should be resonant with the atomic energy levels and the trapped single atom must be excited with a -pulse. However, the interaction between the FORT laser and the atoms causes AC Stark shifts of the atomic energy levels. Thus, in order to demonstrate the resonant pulsed excitation, it is important to calculate and measure the shift of 6S1/2|Fg=4,mF=+4-6P3/2|Fe=5,mF=+5 cyclical transition in the FORT. For a two-level system, the probability of pulsed excitation can be described by Rabi oscillations with a characteristic Rabi frequency . With an optimized time sequence, we experimentally demonstrate the Rabi oscillation between the ground state and the excited state, and the peak power of -pulse laser is about 1.25 mW. We also measure the temporal envelope of single photons after a -pulse excitation. A gated pulsed excitation and cooling technique are used to reduce the possibility that atoms are heated by -pulse laser. The typical trapping lifetime of single cesium atom is extended from~108 ups to~2536 ms. The corresponding number of excitations is improved from 108 to 360000. The second-order intensity correlations of the emitted single-photon are characterized by implementing Hanbury Brown-Twiss setup. The statistics shows a strong anti-bunching with a value of 0.09 for the second-order correlation at zero delay. In the future, we will perform a Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference experiment to analyze the indistinguishability of the single photons. We will also trap single atoms in a magic-wavelength optical dipole trap where the ground and the excited states have the same shift.
In our experiment, a single cesium atom prepared in a large-magnetic-gradient magneto-optical trap (MOT) can be efficiently transferred into a 1064-nm far-off-resonance microscopic optical dipole trap (FORT). The efficient transfer of the single atom between the two traps is used to determine the trapping lifetime and the effective temperature of the single atom in FORT. The typical trapping lifetime has been improved from ∼ 6.9 s to ∼ 130 s by decreasing the background pressure from ∼ 1 × 10 −10 Torr to ∼ 2 × 10 −11 Torr and applying one-shot 10-ms laser cooling phase. We also theoretically investigate the dependence of trapping lifetimes of a single atom in a FORT on trap parameters based on the FORT beam’s intensity noise induced heating. Numerical simulations show that the heating depends on the FORT beam’s waist size and the trap depth. The trapping time can be predicted based on effective temperature measurement of a single atom in the FORT and the intensity noise spectra of the FORT beam. These experimental results are found to be in agreement with the predictions of the heating model.
By optical injection of an 852-nm extended-cavity diode laser (master laser) to lock the + 1-order sideband of a ~9-GHz-current-modulated diode laser (slave laser), we generate a pair of phase-locked lasers with a frequency difference up to ~9-GHz for a cesium (Cs) magneto-optical trap (MOT) with convenient tuning capability. For a cesium MOT, the master laser acts as repumping laser, locked to the Cs 6S₁/₂ (F = 3) - 6P₃/₂ (F' = 4) transition. When the + 1-order sideband of the 8.9536-GHz-current-modulated slave laser is optically injection-locked, the carrier operates on the Cs 6S₁/₂ (F = 4) - 6P₃/₂ (F' = 5) cooling cycle transition with -12 MHz detuning and acts as cooling/trapping laser. When carrying a 9.1926-GHz modulation signal, this phase-locked laser system can be applied in the fields of coherent population trapping and coherent manipulation of Cs atomic ground states.
Based on feedback control techniques and our realization of nearly complete transferring cold cesium (Cs) atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to a far-off-resonance microscopic optical tweezer, we investigated the possibility for nearly deterministic loading of a single Cs atom in a MOT and in a microscopic optical tweezer. We combined feedback controls on the gradient of the MOT quadrupole magnetic field (QMF) and on blue-detuned light-assisted collisions (LAC) of confined cold atoms in the tweezer. Using active feedback on QMF of the MOT, we have achieved ~ 98% of probability of single atom loading in a MOT. In a microscopic optical tweezer, by combining the feedback controls on the QMF and the LAC, we finally achieved ~ 95.2% of probability of single atom loading in the tweezer. This two-path feedback control scheme may be extended to load a small-size 2D tweezer array with exact single atom trapped in each site simultaneously. This is very important and promising to implement an addressable multiple-qubit system for demonstrating quantum register and quantum processor.
Single cesium atom prepared in a large-magnetic-gradient magneto-optical trap (MOT) has been efficiently loaded into a microscopic far-off-resonance optical trap (FORT, or optical tweezer), and the atom can be transferred back and forth between two traps with high efficiency. The intensity noise spectra of tweezer laser are measured and the heating mechanisms in optical tweezer are analyzed. To prolong the lifetime of single atom trapped in optical tweezer, laser cooling technique is utilized to decrease atom's kinetic energy, and the effective temperature of single atom in tweezer is estimated by the release-and-recapture (R&R) method. Thanks to laser cooling, typical lifetime of ~ 130.6 ± 1.8 s for single atom in tweezer is obtained. These works provides a good starting point for coherent manipulation of single atom.