Atomic and spin ensembles in ultra-cold gases and solids for applications in ultra-high precision metrology, quantum frequency conversion and hybrid quantum systems
This project is concerned with ultra-sensitive characterization of the interaction of microwave and optical transitions in atomic clouds and solid materials. Microwave Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy is performed on low loss ferromagnetics and paramagnetic, rare-earth impurity ions in crystal lattices, searching for systems capable of strong coupling. In the optical regime, laser-cooled and trapped neutral Ytterbium atoms are spectroscopically studied with an aim to develop an optical lattice clock for the international Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space mission. This expertise is developing enabling techno logy towards optical coupling to crystals, targeting microwave-optical quantum conversion applications within a hybrid quantum system paradigm.
This project is concerned with ultra-sensitive characterization of the interaction of microwave and optical transitions in atomic clouds and solid materials. Microwave Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy is performed on low loss ferromagnetics and paramagnetic, rare-earth impurity ions in crystal lattices, searching for systems capable of strong coupling. In the optical regime, laser-cooled and trapped neutral Ytterbium atoms are spectroscopically studied with an aim to develop an optical lattice clock for the international Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space mission. This expertise is developing enabling techno logy towards optical coupling to crystals, targeting microwave-optical quantum conversion applications within a hybrid quantum system paradigm.
In my thesis work, I have explored a variety of ways in which narrow linewidth optical transitions can be utilized to extend the capabilities of precision measurement and quantum science. These tools include non-destructive atom counting techniques that may enhance the performance of optical lattice clocks, a novel form of cavity enhanced atomic spectroscopy appropriate for laser frequency stabilization, a new form of laser cooling with reduced reliance on spontaneous emission, several methods for enhancing the sensitivity of proposed atomic gravitational wave detectors, a newly observed form of cavity-mediated spin-spin interactions, and a new class of laser based on optical superradiance from narrow and ultra-narrow linewidth transitions. As part of the superradiant laser project, we have demonstrated the most precise active absolute frequency reference realized to date, which still has great potential for improvement.\nMany of these tools involve coupling atoms to an optical cavity, a field known as cavity quantum electrodynamics, or cavity QED. In my thesis work, a key focus was the extension of cavity QED techniques into the new regime of coupling large ensembles of atoms to a cavity using narrow linewidth optical transitions (in contrast to the previously explored regimes of microwave-frequency transitions or broad-linewidth optical transitions). To this end, I constructed a new experiment to couple an ensemble of atoms to an optical cavity using two optical transitions in atomic strontium, one with a narrow 7.5 kHz linewidth, and another with an ultra-narrow 1 mHz linewidth. This new system has allowed us to access a unique new regime of cavity QED, and a wealth of interesting and useful applications.
Ultra-cold atoms have become indispensable in quantum sensing, quantum computing, and quantum communication applications, as well as in fundamental sciences. In quantum sensing, they enable precision measurements with outstanding sensitivities that can be of great benefit in navigation, geodesy, and fundamental physics applications. The sensitivity of the atom interferometers used herefore typically scales with the square of the interrogation time. Therefore, in atom interferometric measurements, one seeks ensembles that feature a particularly low internal kinetic energy and can thus be detected after a long time-of-flight. The lowest values are achieved using Bose-Einstein condensates in conjunction with delta-kick collimation, a technique for the collimation of the atomic wave function. Bose-Einstein condensation can be achieved using a multi-stage laser cooling scheme, followed by evaporative cooling, which finally brings the temperature down to the critical temperature, typically in the nanokelvin regime. In addition to the low thermal spread, microgravity enables particularly long observation times, as it avoids limitations of the interrogation time due to vacuum chamber constraints, which are present when falling freely under the influence of gravity. Additionally, microgravity enables measurements that are not possible under normal gravity conditions, such as buoyancy-free miscibility studies, truly uniform potentials, and advanced cold atom quantum memories, which are projected to feature unprecedented time-bandwidth products. For the preparation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, two techniques are widely used in science, namely magnetic traps and optical dipole traps. For microgravity missions, magnetic traps on atom chips have been used in nearly all setups so far due to their particularly low SWAP budget and high cold atom flux. In contrast, ground-based experiments often prefer optical traps due to their higher versatility, full optical access, and the absence of surfaces in proximity to the atoms, which is fundamental for precision measurements. Additionally, optical traps enable the manipulation of intra- and inter-species scattering lengths using Feshbach resonances. Compared to atom chip traps, they also feature an intrinsically better symmetry of the trapping potential, in theory leading to fewer aberrations in matter-wave optics. The latter could enable the generation of ensembles in the yet unreached femtokelvin regime using delta-kick collimation with fewer perturbations. This thesis is about the realization of a 1064nm optical dipole trap set up for the microgravity environment of the Bremen Drop Tower. It aims to highlight the advantages of optical traps in conjunction with microgravity and prepare optical trapping technology for use in future microgravity and space missions. The thesis describes the experimental setup, the direct loading process, the characterization of the optical potential, and the optimization and investigation of the evaporative cooling in the optical dipole trap. For the evaporation process, the influence of gravity is comprehensively investigated through analytical calculations and microgravity tests. Bose-Einstein condensation is demonstrated, proving the achievement of condensation through absorption imaging of the spatial distribution, tests on the free evolution of the ensemble, and investigation of the phase-space densities achieved. Up to (74 ± 4)% condensation of an ensemble featuring (30 000 ± 13 000) atoms at a kinetic temperature of (37 ± 3) nK is demonstrated. The evaporation shows high efficiency down to a 3 s evaporation time, while a critical phase-space density can be achieved within (1.29 ± 0.07) s using an even faster evaporation ramp. This opens the door to fundamental physics experiments on Bose-Einstein condensates in microgravity, as well as applications pursuing atomic ensembles with exceptionally low expansion velocities.
This research aims to establish a key element of hybrid quantum networks by demonstrating remote entanglement between disparate quantum systems, specifically a cold atomic ensemble and a rare-earth ion-doped crystal, on a long-term project. In this work, we focused on two important aspects towards this goal: the development of a qubit converter and quantum frequency conversion techniques. The qubit converter is built to transform polarization qubits from the cold atoms system into time-bin qubits to ensure compatibility with photons from the solid-state system. Then, quantum frequency conversion based on non-linear effects is studied to shift the 780nm entangled photon of the atomic system to the telecom C-band, aligning it with photons from the rare-earth ion-doped crystal experiment. This process is essential for conducting the Bell-state measurement required for remote entanglement generation.
Yttrium orthosilicate ( \nY \n2 \nSi \nO \n5 \n, or YSO) has proved to be a convenient host for rare-earth ions used in demonstrations of microwave quantum memories and optical memories with microwave interfaces and shows promise for coherent microwave-optical conversion owing to its favorable optical and spin properties. The strong coupling required by such microwave applications could be achieved using superconducting resonators patterned directly on \nY \n2 \nSi \nO \n5 \n and hence we investigate here the use of \nY \n2 \nSi \nO \n5 \n as an alternative to sapphire or silicon substrates for superconducting-hybrid-device fabrication. A \nNb \nN \n resonator with frequency 6.008 GHz and low-power quality factor \nQ \n≈ \n400 \n000 \n is fabricated on a \nY \n2 \nSi \nO \n5 \n substrate doped with isotopically enriched \n145 \nNd \n. Measurements of dielectric loss yield a loss tangent \ntan \n \nδ \n= \n4 \n× \n10 \n− \n6 \n, comparable to that of sapphire. Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements performed using the resonator show the characteristic angular dependence expected from the anisotropic \n145 \nNd \n spin and the coupling strength between the resonator and the electron spins is in the high-cooperativity regime ( \nC \n= \n30 \n). These results demonstrate that \nY \n2 \nSi \nO \n5 \n is an excellent substrate for low-loss, high- \nQ \n microwave resonators, especially in applications for coupling to optically accessible rare-earth spins.
Progress in the emerging field of engineered quantum systems requires the development of devices that can act as quantum memories. In this thesis, a novel spectroscopic technique using electron spin resonance (ESR) is presented. Microwave whispering gallery modes (WGM) in cylindrical dielectric resonators are used to probe paramagnetic impurities at millikelvin temperatures under the influence of an applied dc magnetic field. This technique couples the naturally high quality factor and the relatively high magnetic filling factor of WGMs in crystalline hosts. Precision spectroscopy has been performed on a number of dielectric samples including, sapphire, ruby, quartz, yttrium orthosilicate (YSO) and yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG). Spectroscopic characterisation of sapphire reveals trace ion impurities at parts per billion, which have been used to control strong coupling between the WGM doublets. Moreover, time-reversal symmetry breaking has been observed when a WGM interacts with an ESR, a result of selection rules being created as a consequence of conservation of angular momentum. Following this, interactions between WGM microwave photons and spin resonances are shown in a range of systems. Results achieved include coupling between WGM photons and Cr3+ ions in ruby with normal mode splitting on the order of 600 MHz at 13.9 GHz, the coupling of iron group ion impurities to WGM photons in YSO, which also revealed a strong coupling regime with very low magnetic field, and coupling of Er3+ to WGMs in YAG with evidence of dilute ferromagnetism - the first observation of such an effect outside of iron group doped semiconductors. In addition a novel double-post re-entrant cavity is presented, which is able to focus the rf magnetic field into a small sample, in this case a sub-millimetre sized Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) ferrite microsphere that supports magnon resonances. Ultra-high cooperatively of 105 between photon and magnon modes is demonstrated at millikelvin temperatures and microwave frequencies. A coupling strength (normal mode splitting) of 2 GHz at 20 GHz, equivalent to 76 cavity linewidths, is achieved for the bright cavity mode. This constitutes about 10% of the photon energy and shows that ultra-strong coupling is possible in spin systems at microwave frequencies.