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Optics Express

Tailored-waveguide based photonic chip for manipulating an array of single neutral atoms

Ke Min, Feng Zhou, Xiao Li, Jin Wang, Mingsheng Zhan

Published Apr 18, 2016• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a tailored-waveguide based photonic chip with the functions of trapping, coherently manipulating, detecting and individually addressing an array of single neutral atoms. Such photonic chip consists of an array of independent functional units spaced by a few micrometers, each of which is comprised of one silica-on-silicon optical waveguide and one phase Fresnel microlens etched in the middle of the output interface of the optical waveguide. We fabricated a number of photonic chips with 7 functional units and measured optical characteristics of these chips. We further propose feasible schemes to realize the functions of such photonic chip. The photonic chip is stable, scalable and can be combined with other integrated devices, such as atom chips, and can be used in the future hybrid quantum system and photonic quantum devices.

DOI
10.1364/oe.24.009157

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•Jan 1, 2013•2 citations
We propose a tailored-waveguide based photonic chip with the functions of trapping, coherently manipulating, detecting and individually addressing an array of single neutral atoms. Such photonic chip consists of an array of independent functional units spaced by a few micrometers, each of which is comprised of one silica-on-silicon optical waveguide and one phase Fresnel microlens etched in the middle of the output interface of the optical waveguide. We fabricated a number of photonic chips with 7 functional units and measured optical characteristics of these chips. We further propose feasible schemes to realize the functions of such photonic chip. The photonic chip is stable, scalable and can be combined with other integrated devices, such as atom chips, and can be used in the future hybrid quantum system and photonic quantum devices.
Scalable arrays of identical single-photon sources are a central resource for photonic quantum information processing, quantum networks and quantum metrology. Neutral atoms provide intrinsically identical emitters that can be assembled and rearranged in optical tweezers, but a many-channel fiber interface to individually trapped atoms has remained a major technical challenge. Here we demonstrate a chip-interfaced single-photon source array based on 50 individually addressable 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms. A glass waveguide fan-out converts the \SI{5}{\micro m} pitch of the optical-tweezer array to the \SI{127}{\micro m} pitch of a commercial fiber array, mapping each atom to its own waveguide, fiber and single-photon detector. We resolve all 50 channels with an average nearest-neighbor cross-talk of 0.4%0.4\%0.4% and a uniform insertion loss of \SI{2.9}{dB}, and verify single-photon emission with g(2)(0)=0.29g^{(2)}(0)=0.29g(2)(0)=0.29, presently limited by detector dark counts and residual cooling-light scattering. Combining per-channel atom discrimination, rearrangement and reservoir replenishment, we prepare source subarrays of up to 24 atoms with a 93%93\%93% fill fraction. For small target numbers, atom loss is repaired from the reservoir at the detection-limited rate of \SI{118}{Hz}. We further fabricate a 784-channel waveguide chip, showing that the photonic interface can be extended well beyond the present number. This architecture establishes a fiber-native neutral-atom platform for larger arrays of identical single-photon sources.
Arrays of neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers have emerged as a leading platform for quantum information processing and quantum simulation due to their scalability, reconfigurable connectivity, and high-fidelity operations. Individual atoms are promising candidates for quantum networking due to their capability to emit indistinguishable photons that are entangled with their internal atomic states. Integrating atom arrays with photonic interfaces would enable distributed architectures in which nodes hosting many processing qubits could be efficiently linked together via the distribution of remote entanglement. However, many atom array techniques cease to work in close proximity to photonic interfaces, with atom detection via standard fluorescence imaging presenting a major challenge due to scattering from nearby photonic devices. Here, we demonstrate an architecture that combines atom arrays with up to 64 optical tweezers and a millimeter-scale photonic chip hosting more than 100 nanophotonic cavities. We achieve high-fidelity ( ~ 99.2%), background-free imaging in close proximity to nanofabricated cavities using a multichromatic excitation and detection scheme. The atoms can be imaged while trapped a few hundred nanometers above the dielectric surface, which we verify using Stark shift measurements of the modified trapping potential. Finally, we rearrange atoms into defect-free arrays and load them simultaneously onto the same or multiple devices.
We propose a Rydberg quantum antenna, consisting of a one-dimensional chain of neutral atoms trapped in a standing-wave optical tweezer, as a chip-interfaced single-photon source. Rydberg blockade induces a single collective excitation in the atomic chain, while its ordered geometry shapes the photon emission into a directional beam, thereby realizing a quantum antenna that emits strictly one photon at a time. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate single-photon collection efficiencies into a waveguide exceeding 70\% through a high-NA lens with a negligible multiple excitation probability. These performance are robust against probabilistic atom loading in the standing-wave dipole traps, requiring only ten atoms, indicating experimental feasibility. The Rydberg quantum antenna thus offers a unique route toward scalable arrays of high-efficiency, high-purity, and identical single-photon sources interfaced with a photonic chip, addressing key challenges in photonic quantum information technology.
Recent progress in manufacturing high-Q dielectric microresonant structures may enable their use as photonic devices that can manipulate and/or detect single atoms on a nanometer scale. Of specific interest is the wafer-based manufacturing of resonators where good control of the physical characteristics can be achieved during fabrication and operation when integrated with other functions on the chip. We show that this "all-optical" trapping should be stable. We discuss atom detection efficiencies and the feasibility for non-destructive measurements in such systems and their dependence on key parameters such as atom distance from the surface, intensity of red- and blue-detuned laser pump fields, and disk size.
Integrating the scalability of individually addressable arrays of optical-tweezer-trapped single atoms with the efficient light-matter interface provided by nanophotonic waveguides has been a long-standing challenge in quantum technologies based on atoms and photons. Here we realize a quantum interface between photons guided in an optical nanofiber with a diameter of 310 nm and an array of on average 155 individually addressable atoms. Using a spatial light modulator and an objective lens with NA = 0.45, single cesium atoms are trapped in a one-dimensional array of 200 optical tweezer spots with micrometer-scale trap sizes on the nanofiber. Individual atoms are addressed by spatially scanning an excitation laser beam, focused to a spot size comparable to that of the traps through the same objective lens, along the nanofiber. We confirm the single-atom nature of the individual trapping sites through photon-correlation measurements of the guided fluorescence, observing strong photon antibunching with g(2)(0)≈0.26g^{(2)}(0) \approx 0.26g(2)(0)≈0.26. We measure trap lifetimes of a few hundred milliseconds, with a maximum value of 460 ms, at an atom-surface separation of 670 nm without active cooling, representing an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous nanofiber traps. This platform opens a new regime for atom-photon interfaces, paving the way for scalable distributed quantum computing and quantum networks, as well as for the exploration of collective radiative effects in waveguide QED with individually addressable atoms.
This thesis reports on the development of an array of plane-concave Fabry-Perot microcavities containing atoms (or other quantum emitters), interconnected by UV-written waveguides on a silica-on-silicon chip. The microcavities are formed by a mirror coated on the end facet of the chip and an array of spherical micromirrors etched on silicon. This is to our knowledge the first attempt at implementing the emerging coupled-cavities QED paradigm. The device we propose possesses a degree of control, flexibility and tuning unmatched in other suggested implementations: The atoms can be manipulated inside the cavity by auxiliary lasers and the cavity-cavity coupling rate as well as the atom-cavity coupling can be tuned. It is highly scalable. Calculation of the complete (classical) optical spectrum of the device is presented. The quantum dynamics that may eventually be observed has also been studied. Waveguide chips containing couplers and phase shifter have been fabricated. We have successfully demonstrated the operation of the elementary sub-systems: the strong optical coupling between a microcavity and a waveguide resonator, and the tunable strong coupling between two evanescently coupled waveguide resonators. No experiments with atoms or other quantum emitters were attempted, because the waveguide propagation loss is so large that no quantum physics can be observed. There is hope that this can be overcome in the future by using other waveguide technologies.