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The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting

Trapped Atoms in One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

Harry J. Kimble

Published Jan 1, 2013• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

I describe one-dimensional photonic crystals that support a guided mode suitable for atom trapping within a unit cell, as well as a second probe mode with strong atom-photon interactions. A new hybrid trap is analyzed that combines optical and Casimir-Polder forces to form stable traps for neutral atoms in dielectric nanostructures. By suitable design of the band structure, the atomic spontaneous emission rate into the probe mode can exceed the rate into all other modes by more than tenfold. An unprecedented single-atom reflectivity greater than 90% for the guided probe field should enable diverse investigations of photon-mediated interactions for 1D atom chains and cavity QED.

DOI
10.1364/cqo.2013.w2b.1

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I describe one-dimensional photonic crystals that support a guided mode suitable for atom trapping within a unit cell, as well as a second probe mode with strong atom-photon interactions. A new hybrid trap is analyzed that combines optical and Casimir-Polder forces to form stable traps for neutral atoms in dielectric nanostructures. By suitable design of the band structure, the atomic spontaneous emission rate into the probe mode can exceed the rate into all other modes by more than tenfold. An unprecedented single-atom reflectivity greater than 90% for the guided probe field should enable diverse investigations of photon-mediated interactions for 1D atom chains and cavity QED.
We describe one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystals that support a guided mode suitable for atom trapping within a unit cell, as well as a second probe mode with strong atom–photon interactions. A new hybrid trap is analyzed that combines optical and Casimir–Polder forces to form stable traps for neutral atoms in dielectric nanostructures. By suitable design of the band structure, the atomic spontaneous emission rate into the probe mode can exceed the rate into all other modes by more than tenfold. The unprecedented single-atom reflectivity r 0 ≳ 0.9 for the guided probe field should enable diverse investigations of photon-mediated interactions for 1D atom chains and cavity quantum electrodynamics.
Integrating ultracold atoms with nanophotonics enables the exploration of new paradigms in quantum optics and many body physics. Advanced fabrication capabilities for low-loss dielectric materials provide powerful tools to engineer light-matter coupling of photons and atoms. For example, dispersion-engineered photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) permit not only stable trapping and probing of atoms via interactions with guided mode (GM) light, but also the possibility to study the physics of strong photon-mediated interactions between atoms. This thesis describes the design of a quasi-one-dimensional structure, the alligator photonic crystal waveguide (APCW), which has already allowed for the observation of some of those features. Furthermore, external illumination schemes allow for the trapping and transport of atoms near the dielectric device. Here, atoms loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice are transported through the APCW. As the atoms trapped in the lattice approach the APCW, the combination of lattice and GM potential can smoothly guide atoms into the gap between the two dielectric nanobeams. Therefore, the transmission of a weak guided mode probe is modulated at the rate determined by the lattice moving through the APCW. In the near future, single atoms can then be transferred from the moving lattice into optical traps formed in each unit cell by GMs of the APCW. Moreover, a characterization of a simple 2D photonic crystal slabs design is presented.
The design of a photonic system for the trapping and waveguiding of ultracold atoms far above a dielectric surface is proposed and analyzed. The system consists of an optical rib waveguide deposited on a planar one-dimensional photonic crystal, which sustains two wavelengths of photonic crystal surface modes tuned in the red and blue sides relative to the atomic transition of the neutral atom. The addition of a third blue-tuned wavelength to the system allows the neutral atoms to be stabilized in the lateral dimension above the rib waveguide. Trapping atoms at relatively large distances, more than 600 nm above the dielectric surface, allows to reduce the influence of Casimir-Polder forces in this system. The detailed design methodology and specifications of the photonic system are provided. The presented design can be employed in atomic chips and quantum sensors.
New paradigms for optical physics emerge with lattices of atoms trapped in one and two-dimensional photonic crystals [1-4]. Exemplary experimental platforms include photonic crystal waveguides [5-7] and cavities [8, 9]. Owing to their small optical loss and tight field confinement, these nanoscale dielectric devices are capable of mediating long-range atom-atom interactions using photons propagating in their guided modes. In a complimentary fashion, long-range interactions between photons can be mediated by an underlying lattice of atoms. Such systems have the potential to provide new tools for scalable quantum networks, quantum phases of light and matter, and quantum metrology. However, bringing this future of atom nanophotonics to fruition requires the creation of an interdisciplinary toolkit for the control, manipulation, and interaction of atoms and photons with a complexity and scalability not currently possible. I will give an overview of the theoretical prospects for new physics and review experimental progress in this nascent field at the interfaces of nano-photonics, atomic physics, and quantum optics.
Abstract Integrating nanophotonics and cold atoms has drawn increasing interest in recent years due to diverse applications in quantum information science and the exploration of quantum many‐body physics. For example, dispersion‐engineered photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) permit not only stable trapping and probing of ultracold neutral atoms via interactions with guided‐mode light, but also the possibility to explore the physics of strong, photon‐mediated interactions between atoms, as well as atom‐mediated interactions between photons. While diverse theoretical opportunities involving atoms and photons in 1D and 2D nanophotonic lattices have been analyzed, a grand challenge remains the experimental integration of PCWs with ultracold atoms. Here, an advanced apparatus that overcomes several significant barriers to current experimental progress is described, with the goal of achieving strong quantum interactions of light and matter by way of single‐atom tweezer arrays strongly coupled to photons in 1D and 2D PCWs. Principal technical advances relate to efficient free‐space coupling of light to and from guided modes of PCWs, silicate bonding of silicon chips within small glass vacuum cells, and deterministic, mechanical delivery of single‐atom tweezer arrays to the near fields of photonic crystal waveguides.
We study the spontaneous emission of an atom embedded in a one-dimensional photonic crystal or superlattice using a classical electrodynamic theory of radiation. The rate of emission is a function of the frequency of the emitted photon, the dipole's position and orientation, as well as the geometric and material parameters of the superlattice. The emission spectrum shows an oscillatory behavior which follows the photonic band structure. For TE modes, there are frequency regions where radiative emission is completely prohibited due to the absence of modes with k//>omega/c; the radiation is then TM polarized. In addition to the radiative modes, there are always evanescent modes with k//>omega/c which are waveguided by the dielectric layers. The evanescent contribution to the spontaneous emission is dominant if a dielectric layer is in the near field region of the dipole. For TM modes, emission rates greatly vary for parallel and perpendicular dipole moments. In a photonic crystal with a high filling fraction of the dielectric and perpendicular dipoles located in the low-index layer, the decay rate can be as much as 76 times the free space value for a single atom and 50 times for a gas of atoms. We also find that the rate of emission presents a strong dependence on the atom's position.