Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Ground-state cooling of a trapped ion by quantum interference pathways

Shuo Zhang, Jian‐Qi Zhang, Qian-Heng Duan, Chu Guo, Chun-Wang Wu, Wei Wu, Ping‐Xing Chen

Published Oct 9, 2014• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of enhancement of cooling a trapped ion by combining the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect with the standing-wave coupling. Our study shows that the quantum destructive interference which is caused by the EIT effect and the standing-wave coupling can cancel all the dominant heating effects if appropriate parameters are chosen. The analytical predictions and numerical simulations show that the final temperature can be much lower than the recoil energy. In addition, this fast-cooling scheme is robust against fluctuations of the strength of the laser beams, which makes it more feasible for experimental realization.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.043409

Related papers

Enhancement of electromagnetically induced transparency cooling by an optical cavity

Jie Zhang, Shuo Zhang, Bao-Quan Ou +2 more

We theoretically investigate an enhanced electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) cooling method by introducing a high finesse cavity. We find that the quantum destructive interference that is induced by the EIT effect and the cavity coupling can eliminate all of the heating effects in the cooling process by choosing appropriate parameters. Compared with the EIT cooling scheme, a lower final temperature can be obtained under the same conditions in our scheme.

Chinese Physics B•Nov 1, 2014•1 citation

Sub-Doppler laser cooling using electromagnetically induced transparency

Peiru He, Phoebe Tengdin, Dana Z. Anderson +2 more

We propose a sub-Doppler laser-cooling mechanism that takes advantage of the unique spectral features and extreme dispersion generated by the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). EIT is a destructive quantum interference phenomenon experienced by atoms with multiple internal quantum states when illuminated by laser fields with appropriate frequencies. By detuning the lasers slightly from the ``dark resonance,'' we observe that, within the transparency window, atoms can be subject to a strong viscous force, while being only slightly heated by the diffusion caused by spontaneous photon scattering. In contrast to other laser-cooling schemes, such as polarization gradient cooling or EIT-sideband cooling, no external magnetic field or strong external confining potential is required. Using a semiclassical approximation, we derive analytically quantitative expressions for the steady-state temperature, which is confirmed by full quantum mechanical numerical simulations. We find that the lowest achievable temperatures approach the single-photon recoil energy. In addition to dissipative forces, the atoms are subject to a stationary conservative potential, leading to the possibility of spatial confinement. We find that under typical experimental parameters, this effect is weak and stable trapping is not possible.

arXiv:1609.09105•Physical Review A•May 9, 2017•6 citations

Ground-state cooling for a trapped atom using cavity-induced double electromagnetically induced transparency

Zhen Yi, Wen-ju Gu, Gao‐xiang Li

We propose a cooling scheme for a trapped atom using the phenomenon of cavity-induced double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), where the atom comprising of four levels in tripod configuration is confined inside a high-finesse optical cavity. By exploiting one cavity-induced EIT, which involves one cavity photon and two laser photons, carrier transition can be eliminated due to the quantum destructive interference of excitation paths. Heating process originated from blue-sideband transition mediated by cavity field can also be prohibited due to the destructive quantum interference with the additional transition between the additional ground state and the excited state. As a consequence, the trapped atom can be cooled to the motional ground state in the leading order of the Lamb-Dicke parameters. In addition, the cooling rate is of the same order of magnitude as that obtained in the cavity-induced single EIT scheme.

Optics Express•Feb 4, 2013•10 citations

Rapid multi-mode trapped-ion laser cooling in a phase-stable standing wave

Zhenzhong Xing, Hamim Mahmud Rivy, Vighnesh Natarajan +3 more

Laser cooling is fundamental to quantum computing and metrology using atomic systems. Precise control often requires cooling atoms' motional degrees of freedom to the quantum ground state, imposing operation time and architectural limitations particularly in large-scale systems. Here we demonstrate how the integrated optical control of interest for scaling trapped-ion systems additionally enables laser cooling that bypasses limitations of conventional schemes. Leveraging multi-channel integrated delivery of ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths for calcium ion control including in passively phase-stable ultraviolet standing waves (SWs), we experimentally verify a long-standing prediction by Cirac et al., realizing Doppler cooling to below the conventional Doppler limit at a SW node. We also present the first realization of ground-state cooling via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using a ``probe" beam delivered as a SW with atoms positioned at a node, predicted to enable multi-mode sub-recoil-limit laser cooling. We demonstrate cooling of motional modes spanning an approximately 5 MHz bandwidth from the Doppler temperature to near the ground state within 150~\textmu s, reaching $\bar n \approx 0.05$ phonon number occupancies for the target mode. Direct evaluation against the comparable running-wave (RW) scheme shows the SW implementation's simultaneous advantage in cooling rate, motional mode bandwidth, and final phonon number, as previously theoretically predicted. Our work leverages capabilities enabled by integrated optical delivery to demonstrate fast cooling of multiple modes to the quantum ground state, and more broadly how scalable approaches to optical control can enable enhancements in fundamental atomic functionalities.

physics.atom-phCross-listedarXiv:2512.10900•PRX Quantum•Dec 12, 2025•0 citations

Dark-state laser cooling of a trapped ion using standing waves

Shuo Zhang, Chun-Wang Wu, Ping‐Xing Chen

We propose a dark-state cooling scheme of trapped ion systems using standing waves in the Lamb-Dicke limit. By exploiting the property of standing waves, the heating effects caused by the carrier and the blue sideband transitions vanish and lower final phonon number can be achieved. Different from other dark-state cooling schemes, our scheme is more robust under the fluctuations of laser intensities.

Physical Review A•May 22, 2012•21 citations

Dark-state cooling of a trapped ion using microwave coupling

Yong Lu, Jian‐Qi Zhang, Jin‐Ming Cui +5 more

We propose a dark-state cooling method of trapped ion systems in the Lamb-Dicke limit. By microwave dressing the ion, we can obtain two electromagnetically induced transparency structures. The heating effects caused by the carrier and the blue sideband transition vanish due to electromagnetically induced transparency effects and the final mean phonon numbers can be much lower than the recoil limit. Our scheme is robust to fluctuations of microwave power and laser intensities, which provides a broad cooling bandwidth to cool motional modes of a linear ion chain. Moreover, it is more suitable to cool four-level ions on a large-scale ion chip.

arXiv:1507.02500•Physical Review A•Aug 21, 2015•11 citations
We investigate the possibility of enhancement of cooling a trapped ion by combining the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect with the standing-wave coupling. Our study shows that the quantum destructive interference which is caused by the EIT effect and the standing-wave coupling can cancel all the dominant heating effects if appropriate parameters are chosen. The analytical predictions and numerical simulations show that the final temperature can be much lower than the recoil energy. In addition, this fast-cooling scheme is robust against fluctuations of the strength of the laser beams, which makes it more feasible for experimental realization.
We propose a sub-Doppler laser-cooling mechanism that takes advantage of the unique spectral features and extreme dispersion generated by the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). EIT is a destructive quantum interference phenomenon experienced by atoms with multiple internal quantum states when illuminated by laser fields with appropriate frequencies. By detuning the lasers slightly from the ``dark resonance,'' we observe that, within the transparency window, atoms can be subject to a strong viscous force, while being only slightly heated by the diffusion caused by spontaneous photon scattering. In contrast to other laser-cooling schemes, such as polarization gradient cooling or EIT-sideband cooling, no external magnetic field or strong external confining potential is required. Using a semiclassical approximation, we derive analytically quantitative expressions for the steady-state temperature, which is confirmed by full quantum mechanical numerical simulations. We find that the lowest achievable temperatures approach the single-photon recoil energy. In addition to dissipative forces, the atoms are subject to a stationary conservative potential, leading to the possibility of spatial confinement. We find that under typical experimental parameters, this effect is weak and stable trapping is not possible.
We propose a cooling scheme for a trapped atom using the phenomenon of cavity-induced double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), where the atom comprising of four levels in tripod configuration is confined inside a high-finesse optical cavity. By exploiting one cavity-induced EIT, which involves one cavity photon and two laser photons, carrier transition can be eliminated due to the quantum destructive interference of excitation paths. Heating process originated from blue-sideband transition mediated by cavity field can also be prohibited due to the destructive quantum interference with the additional transition between the additional ground state and the excited state. As a consequence, the trapped atom can be cooled to the motional ground state in the leading order of the Lamb-Dicke parameters. In addition, the cooling rate is of the same order of magnitude as that obtained in the cavity-induced single EIT scheme.
Laser cooling is fundamental to quantum computing and metrology using atomic systems. Precise control often requires cooling atoms' motional degrees of freedom to the quantum ground state, imposing operation time and architectural limitations particularly in large-scale systems. Here we demonstrate how the integrated optical control of interest for scaling trapped-ion systems additionally enables laser cooling that bypasses limitations of conventional schemes. Leveraging multi-channel integrated delivery of ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths for calcium ion control including in passively phase-stable ultraviolet standing waves (SWs), we experimentally verify a long-standing prediction by Cirac et al., realizing Doppler cooling to below the conventional Doppler limit at a SW node. We also present the first realization of ground-state cooling via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using a ``probe" beam delivered as a SW with atoms positioned at a node, predicted to enable multi-mode sub-recoil-limit laser cooling. We demonstrate cooling of motional modes spanning an approximately 5 MHz bandwidth from the Doppler temperature to near the ground state within 150~\textmu s, reaching nˉ≈0.05\bar n \approx 0.05nˉ≈0.05 phonon number occupancies for the target mode. Direct evaluation against the comparable running-wave (RW) scheme shows the SW implementation's simultaneous advantage in cooling rate, motional mode bandwidth, and final phonon number, as previously theoretically predicted. Our work leverages capabilities enabled by integrated optical delivery to demonstrate fast cooling of multiple modes to the quantum ground state, and more broadly how scalable approaches to optical control can enable enhancements in fundamental atomic functionalities.
We propose a dark-state cooling method of trapped ion systems in the Lamb-Dicke limit. By microwave dressing the ion, we can obtain two electromagnetically induced transparency structures. The heating effects caused by the carrier and the blue sideband transition vanish due to electromagnetically induced transparency effects and the final mean phonon numbers can be much lower than the recoil limit. Our scheme is robust to fluctuations of microwave power and laser intensities, which provides a broad cooling bandwidth to cool motional modes of a linear ion chain. Moreover, it is more suitable to cool four-level ions on a large-scale ion chip.