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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Guiding of cold atoms through photonic crystal fibers

S. Vorrath, Sönke Möller, Kai Bongs, K. Sengstock

Published Jun 1, 2009• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have demonstrated that a two-dimensional photonic crystal fiber can be used as a novel nonlinear medium for atom optical experiments. Our results show for the first time that cold atoms can be guided optically through this fiber with high efficiency and especially with a high density. In order to study this system a new experiment for creating cold optically guided atoms has been built up. Our results show that the experimental parameters governing the atomic flux are in a good agreement with a self-developed numerical model as well as with other theoretical predictions.

DOI
10.1109/cleoe-eqec.2009.5192334

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We have demonstrated that a two-dimensional photonic crystal fiber can be used as a novel nonlinear medium for atom optical experiments. Our results show for the first time that cold atoms can be guided optically through this fiber with high efficiency and especially with a high density. In order to study this system a new experiment for creating cold optically guided atoms has been built up. Our results show that the experimental parameters governing the atomic flux are in a good agreement with a self-developed numerical model as well as with other theoretical predictions.
In the field of ultracold quantum gases atom optics has been established as a completely new discipline in the last years. This led to fundmentally new results in the field of research of atom optical systems. In modern experiments especially strongly interacting nonlinear systems are of great interest. Such a strongly correlated system consists of a cold atomic quantum gas and a light field both embedded into a nonlinear medium. This thesis documents for the first time that a two-dimensional photonic crystal fiber can be used as a novel nonlinear medium for atom optical experiments. It shows that cold atoms can be guided optically through this fiber with high efficiency and density. In order to study this system a new experiment for creating cold optically guided atoms has been built up. This complex experimental setup consists of high-stable laser sources, optics and electronics for generating, manipulating and detecting cold atomic rubidium ensembles as well as further elements for implementing photonic band gap fibers as matter wave guides. One focal point of the thesis has been the detailed investigation of the atomic flux through the fiber. This analysis demonstrates that the experimental parameters governing the atomic flux are in a good agreement with a self-developed numerical model as well as with other theoretical predictions. For applying this system as injector for other quantum gas experiments or for atom interferometry, a continuous, coherent atomic flux is necessary. Studies demonstrate that such a regime can be reached by using an additional dipole trap in front of the fiber. By properly chosen trap parameters this trap can be used as a reservoir of cold atoms. With this optical setup the atomic flux can be kept up significantly longer than in a pulsed guiding system. Further the experimental possibilities of this nearly one-dimensional, cold, dense and tightly embedded atomic system are of great interest. The analysis shows that because of the generated atomic density and the energetic distribution of the atoms in the fiber potential a coherent atom optics is feasible with this system. So this experiment paves the way towards a novel, coherent matter wave guide. By exploiting the strongly photonic interaction in the fiber other physical regimes especially in the field of nonlinear optics can be reached. This includes for example the studies of four-wave-mixing processes in the photonic band gap fiber. In a recent theoretical paper it has been suggested to use the tunability of the atom-light-interaction to reach a photonic regime of extremely strong repulsion. This possibly leads to decelerated or even stopped light forming a so-called Tonks-Girardeau gas.
We demonstrate the first guiding of cold atoms through a 88 mm long piece of photonic band gap fiber. The guiding potential is created by a far-off resonance dipole trap propagating inside the fiber with a hollow core of 12 μm. We load the fiber from a dark spot 85 Rb magneto-optical trap and observe a peak flux of more than 10 5 atoms s −1 at a velocity of 1.5 m s −1 . With an additional reservoir optical dipole trap, a constant atomic flux of 1.5 × 10 4 atoms s −1 is sustained for more than 150 ms. These results open up interesting possibilities to study nonlinear light–matter interaction in a nearly one-dimensional geometry and pave the way for guided matter wave interferometry.
Cold atoms confined inside a hollow core photonic crystal fiber with core diameter of a few photon wavelengths are a promising medium for studying nonlinear optical interactions at extremely low light levels. The high electric field intensity per photon, large optical depths, and interaction lengths not limited by diffraction are some of the unique features of this system. We describe recent progress in our experiment that uses a combination of magnetic trapping and a red-detuned optical dipole trap to transfer cold rubidium atoms into the hollow-core fiber. We present data on transfer efficiencies as well as preliminary experiments towards nonlinear optics with few photon pulses.
Cold atoms trapped and guided in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers provide a scalable diffraction-free setting for atom–light interactions for quantum technologies. However, due to the mismatch of the depth and spatial extension of the trapping potential from free space to the fiber, the number of cold atoms in the fiber is mainly determined by the loading process from free space to waveguide confinement. Here, we provide a numerical study of the loading dynamics of cold atoms into a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. We use the Monte Carlo method to simulate the trajectories of an ensemble of cold atoms from free space trapping potential to optical potential inside a hollow-core fiber and calculate the temperature, loading efficiency, and geometry of the ensemble. We also study the noise sources that cause heating and a loss of atoms during the process. Our result could be used to design and optimize the loading process of cold atoms into a hollow-core fiber for cold atom experiments.
In this thesis I describe experimental work and present data on the guiding of \nRubidium atoms along free-space propagating light beams as well as within hollow \ncore glass fibres, namely photonic crystal fibres. I describe experiments, laser systems \nand vacuum trap assemblies designed to facilitate this guiding. \nThese experiments are intended to aid progression within the field of cold \natom guidance wherein narrow diameter, long distance hollow-fibre guides are a \ncurrent goal. Realisation of these guides could lead to promising applications such as \natom interferometers and spatially accurate, multi-source, atom depositors. \nHerein, guided fluxes are observed in free-space guiding experiments for \ndistances up to 50mm and up to 10GHz red-detuning from resonance. Additionally \nhollow-core, Kagome structured, quasi- and true-photonic crystal fibres are \ncharacterised. Finally a number of detailed fibre-guiding magneto-optic traps are \ndeveloped. \nBoth cold atomic-beams and cold atomic clouds are reliably positioned above \nfibre entrance facets in conjunction with a guiding laser beam coupled into the fibre \ncore. \nIssues regarding optical flux detection outwith fibre confinement appear to \nhave hindered observation of guided atoms. A far more sensitive detection system has \nbeen developed for use in current, ongoing fibre-guide experiments.
Hollow-core optical fibers loaded with cold atoms show great promise as platforms for quantum information processing and highly nonlinear optics, but their limitations have remained poorly understood. Using detailed Monte Carlo simulation, the authors model the loading dynamics and predict the sensitivity of the system to various experimental parameters. Thus guided, they develop an experimental apparatus that can load an order of magnitude more atoms than usual, to yield the extremely high optical depths needed for high-efficiency quantum memories.