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Physical Review A

Patterned loading of a Bose-Einstein condensate into an optical lattice

Steven Peil, J. V. Porto, B. Laburthe-Tolra, John Obrecht, B. E. King, Maksim V. Subbotin, S. L. Rolston, William D. Phillips

Published May 28, 2003• 225 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have developed a technique to control the placement of atoms in an optical lattice by using a superlattice comprising two separately manipulated, periodic optical potentials with commensurate periods. We demonstrate selective loading of Bose-condensed ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into every third site of a one-dimensional optical lattice. Our technique provides atoms with wide separation yet tight confinement, useful properties for neutral-atom implementations of quantum computing. Interference of atoms released from the optical lattice and optical Bragg reflection from the atoms reveal the tight confinement and wide separation provided by the patterned filling.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.67.051603

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We have developed a technique to control the placement of atoms in an optical lattice by using a superlattice comprising two separately manipulated, periodic optical potentials with commensurate periods. We demonstrate selective loading of Bose-condensed 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms into every third site of a one-dimensional optical lattice. Our technique provides atoms with wide separation yet tight confinement, useful properties for neutral-atom implementations of quantum computing. Interference of atoms released from the optical lattice and optical Bragg reflection from the atoms reveal the tight confinement and wide separation provided by the patterned filling.
We demonstrate single-site addressability in a two-dimensional optical lattice with 600 nm lattice spacing. After loading a Bose-Einstein condensate in the lattice potential, we use a focused electron beam to remove atoms from selected sites. The patterned structure is subsequently imaged by means of scanning electron microscopy. This technique allows one to create arbitrary patterns of mesoscopic atomic ensembles. We find that the patterns are remarkably stable against tunneling diffusion. Such microengineered quantum gases are a versatile resource for applications in quantum simulation, quantum optics, and quantum information processing with neutral atoms.
One of the essential features of a quantum computer is a quantum 'register' of well-characterized qubits. Neutral atoms in optical lattices are a natural candidate for such a register. We have demonstrated a patterned-loading technique that can be used to load atoms into large arrays of tightly confined but optically resolvable lattice sites. We have also seen preliminary indications of the Mott-insulator transition, which provides a route for single-atom initialization of the individual sites. Combining the two experiments should allow for large arrays of individually addressable single atoms, a system which provides a starting point for further quantum computation studies.
Abstract We propose a method for separating trapped atoms in optical lattices by large distances. The key idea is the cyclic transfer of atoms between two lattices of variable spacing, known as accordion lattices, each covering at least a factor of two in lattice spacing. By coherently loading atoms between the two superimposed potentials, we can reach, in principle, arbitrarily large atom separations, while requiring only a relatively small numerical aperture. Numerical simulations of our ‘accordion superlattice’ show that the atoms remain localized to one lattice site throughout the separation process, even for moderate lattice depths. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we demonstrate the optical fields required for the accordion superlattice using acousto-optic deflectors. The method can be applied to neutral-atom quantum computing with optical tweezers, as well as quantum simulation of low-entropy many-body states. For instance, a unit-filling atomic Mott insulator can be coherently expanded by a factor of ten in order to load an optical tweezer array with very high filling. In turn, sorted tweezer arrays can be compressed to form high-density states of ultracold atoms in optical lattices. The method can also be applied to biological systems where dynamical separation of particles is required.
In recent years, ultracold atomic gases have been used as tools to study strongly-correlated systems reminiscent of interesting systems from solid-state physics. At temperatures just above absolute zero, particles with integer quantum spin ("bosons") begin to congregate in the ground state of the trapping potential. As the temperature of the system falls below a critical temperature Tc (in this experiment near 200 nK) it undergoes a phase transition called Bose-Einstein condensation. A Bose-Einstein condensate is often described as a macroscopic quantum body, and due to its phase coherence (analogous to an "atom laser") can be used to simulate solid-state systems in a periodic potential called an optical lattice, which resembles that experienced by electrons in the periodic Coulomb potential of a solid-state crystal lattice. These optical lattices are formed by the interference pattern of multiple laser beams, and the associated spatially-dependent Stark shift, resulting in trapping potential for the BEC. The lattice analogs of simple atomic structures have been widely studied. In this thesis, we study the possibility of loading a BEC into multi-dimensional optical lattices. The crystallography of four-beam three-dimensional optical lattices is investigated, and an apparatus is constructed to produce two- to four-beam lattice geometries. We study the structure of the lattice through the technique of Kapitza-Dirac scattering.
We investigate the potential for controlling a noninteracting Bose-Einstein condensate loaded into a one-dimensional optical superlattice. Our control strategy combines Bloch oscillations, originating from accelerating the lattice, with time-dependent control of the superlattice parameters. We investigate two experimentally viable scenarios, very low and very high potential depths, in order to gain a better understanding of matter wave control available within the system. Multiple lattice parameters and a versatile energy band structure allow us to obtain a wide range of control over energy band populations. Finally, we consider several examples of quantum state preparation in the superlattice structure that may be difficult to achieve in a regular lattice.
The Mott insulator state created by loading an atomic Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) into an optical lattice may be used as a means to prepare a register of atomic qubits in a quantum computer. Such architecture requires a lattice commensurately filled with atoms, which corresponds to the insulator state only in the limit of zero inter-well tunnelling. We show that a lattice with spatial inhomogeneity created by a quadratic magnetic trapping potential can be used to isolate a subspace in the centre which is impervious to hole-hoping. Components of the wavefunction with more than one atom in any well can be projected out by selective measurement on a molecular photo-associative transition. Maintaining the molecular coupling can sustain a commensurately filled register for the duration of a quantum computation.