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Key engineering materials

High Sensitive and Spatial-Resolution Atom Sensor Using Two-Step Photoionization with Two-Color Near-Field Lights Generated at a Nano-Slit

Kenta Sagawa, Haruhiko Ito

Published Apr 3, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We develop a nanoslit to detect a small number of neutral atoms in the ground state. The detection scheme of using two-step photoionization is very sensitive and the use of nanometric near-field lights leads to an ultrahigh spatial resolution. An edge-sharpened nanoslit is fabricated with FIB milling. Considering the case of detecting Rb atoms, the polarization-dependent spatial distribution of near-field light generated at the nanoslit by total-internal reflection of a 476.5-nm Ar-ion laser beam is obtained with a scanning near-field optical microscope. Based on the experimental results, the ionization efficiency is estimated for both s-polarization and p-polarization. We also discuss the discrepancy between the experimental value and the numerical one obtained from the finite difference time domain simulations in the p-polarization case.

DOI
10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.605.412

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We develop a nanoslit to detect a small number of neutral atoms in the ground state. The detection scheme of using two-step photoionization is very sensitive and the use of nanometric near-field lights leads to an ultrahigh spatial resolution. An edge-sharpened nanoslit is fabricated with FIB milling. Considering the case of detecting Rb atoms, the polarization-dependent spatial distribution of near-field light generated at the nanoslit by total-internal reflection of a 476.5-nm Ar-ion laser beam is obtained with a scanning near-field optical microscope. Based on the experimental results, the ionization efficiency is estimated for both s-polarization and p-polarization. We also discuss the discrepancy between the experimental value and the numerical one obtained from the finite difference time domain simulations in the p-polarization case.
We fabricated a 50-nm-wide slit on a glass substrate using the lift-off process with a bilayer resist including Cr. The nanometric slit is designed for detecting a small number of neutral atoms in the ground state with high spatial accuracy by way of two-step photoionization with two-color near-field lights. Conducting the finite difference time domain simulations, we drew the spatial profiles of near-field lights generated in the vicinity of the slit for both cases of normal illumination and total-internal reflection (TIR) illumination with a linearly polarized light beam. In the slit-parallel-incident TIR configuration with s-polarization, we obtained a good throughput of 1.1 x 10-2 and the highest extinction ratio of 2.2 x 10-7 for a wavelength of 780 nm. In this case, the ionization efficiency of low-energy 87Rb atoms in the 5S1/2 hyperfine state is estimated to exceed 1%.
We describe a slit-type detector for ground-state atoms with nanometer optical near fields. The detector with a slit width of 70 nm and a slit length of 100 µm is fabricated by processing a silicon-on-insulator wafer with photolithography and anisotropic etching. Measurement with a fiber probe of the intensity distribution on the slit reveals that the spatial resolution is 96 nm. Rubidium atoms can be selectively detected by means of two-step photoionization. The detection efficiency is estimated at 25% for Rb atoms with a mean velocity of 10 m/s. The atom detector can be used for atom deflection experiments with a fiber probe.
Summary form only given. We have proposed deflection by an optical near field on a fiber probe to control atoms with high spatial accuracy. In this case, the deflection angle is estimated to be 0.1 degree for a Rb atom with an incident velocity of 10 m/s. It leads to the deviation of 10 /spl mu/m from the incident axis at 1 cm. in the downstream. To detect the deflected atoms with an accuracy of 1%, we need the spatial resolution of 100 nm. However, a commercial detector such as MCP has a low resolution of 50 /spl mu/m at most and the highest resolution that has been reported is 1 /spl mu/m to our knowledge. In addition, these are applied to metastable atoms and have less detection efficiency for the ground state atoms we manipulate. For drastic improvement, we present here a slit-type atom detector with a nanometric lateral resolution. Since the number of atoms deflected by the optical near field is very small, it is important to detect atoms with high efficiency. For this purpose, we use photoionization with two-color optical near fields.
We describe atom deflection with a slit-type deflector as an elemental technique of precise atom control using near-field light. In the demonstration experiments, cold Rb atoms deflected by repulsive near-field light induced in a 200?nm-wide slit are detected by means of two-step photoionization. Then, we consider a near-field-light lens of atomic de Broglie waves by developing the atom deflector. The feasibility of nanofocusing is shown by numerical analyses with Fourier atom optics. Finally, we describe atom funnels with evanescent light to generate a cold atomic beam required for atom manipulation using nanometric near-field light. The flux intensity of cold Rb atoms outputted from a 240??m outlet is estimated to be 7.5 ? 107?atom?cm?2?s?1 at a blue detuning of 1.2?GHz. In order to increase the flux intensity to 1012?atom?cm?2?s?1, we develop a Si-made funnel with a micron-sized outlet.
We realize a scanning probe microscope using single trapped ^{87}Rb atoms to measure optical fields with subwavelength spatial resolution. Our microscope operates by detecting fluorescence from a single atom driven by near-resonant light and determining the ac Stark shift of an atomic transition from other local optical fields via the change in the fluorescence rate. We benchmark the microscope by measuring two standing-wave Gaussian modes of a Fabry-Pérot resonator with optical wavelengths of 1560 and 781 nm. We attain a spatial resolution of 300 nm, which is superresolving compared to the limit set by the 780 nm wavelength of the detected light. Sensitivity to short length scale features is enhanced by adapting the sensor to characterize an optical field via the force it exerts on the atom.