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Clocked Atom Delivery to a Photonic Crystal Waveguide: Simulations and Experiments

Lucas Peng

Published May 31, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Integrating atomic physics with nanophotonics devices provides a new research platform for quantum optics and many-body physics. The robustness and scalability of advanced lithographic fabrication technology provide powerful tools to enhance and control atom-photon interaction. Dispersion engineered photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs), such as the alligator photonic crystal waveguides (APCWs) described in this thesis, allow stable trapping and probing of atoms via guided modes (GMs). By tuning the photonic band-edges of the PCWs, the photon-mediated interactions between atoms can be modified. This thesis describes simulations and experiments that develop a quantitative understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of APCWs. The atoms are delivered to APCWs using optical lattice. Synchronous with the moving lattice, transmission spectra for a guided-mode probe field are recorded as functions of lattice transport time and frequency detuning of the probe beam. With these 2D "clocked" spectra, we have been able to validate quantitatively our numerical simulations, which are based upon a detailed understanding of atomic trajectories that pass around and through nanoscopic regions of the APCW under the influence of optical and surface forces. By introducing auxiliary GMs of various polarizations and intensities, we have begun to control the atomic trajectories to some degree. For example, atoms can be guided to the central vacuum gap of the APCW at predetermined times and with known AC-Stark shifts. The applications of combining clocked atom delivery and numerical simulation include enabling high fractional filling of optical trap sites within PCWs, calibration of optical fields within PCWs, and utilization of the time-dependent, optically dense atomic medium for novel nonlinear optical experiments.

DOI
10.7907/kdq6-3s79

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Integrating atomic physics with nanophotonics devices provides a new research platform for quantum optics and many-body physics. The robustness and scalability of advanced lithographic fabrication technology provide powerful tools to enhance and control atom-photon interaction. Dispersion engineered photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs), such as the alligator photonic crystal waveguides (APCWs) described in this thesis, allow stable trapping and probing of atoms via guided modes (GMs). By tuning the photonic band-edges of the PCWs, the photon-mediated interactions between atoms can be modified. This thesis describes simulations and experiments that develop a quantitative understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of APCWs. The atoms are delivered to APCWs using optical lattice. Synchronous with the moving lattice, transmission spectra for a guided-mode probe field are recorded as functions of lattice transport time and frequency detuning of the probe beam. With these 2D "clocked" spectra, we have been able to validate quantitatively our numerical simulations, which are based upon a detailed understanding of atomic trajectories that pass around and through nanoscopic regions of the APCW under the influence of optical and surface forces. By introducing auxiliary GMs of various polarizations and intensities, we have begun to control the atomic trajectories to some degree. For example, atoms can be guided to the central vacuum gap of the APCW at predetermined times and with known AC-Stark shifts. The applications of combining clocked atom delivery and numerical simulation include enabling high fractional filling of optical trap sites within PCWs, calibration of optical fields within PCWs, and utilization of the time-dependent, optically dense atomic medium for novel nonlinear optical experiments.
Experiments and numerical simulations are described that develop quantitative understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of nanoscopic photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs). Ultracold atoms are delivered from a moving optical lattice into the PCW. Synchronous with the moving lattice, transmission spectra for a guided-mode probe field are recorded as functions of lattice transport time and frequency detuning of the probe beam. By way of measurements such as these, we have been able to validate quantitatively our numerical simulations, which are based upon detailed understanding of atomic trajectories that pass around and through nanoscopic regions of the PCW under the influence of optical and surface forces. The resolution for mapping atomic motion is roughly 50 nm in space and 100 ns in time. By introducing auxiliary guided-mode (GM) fields that provide spatially varying AC Stark shifts, we have, to some degree, begun to control atomic trajectories, such as to enhance the flux into the central vacuum gap of the PCW at predetermined times and with known AC Stark shifts. Applications of these capabilities include enabling high fractional filling of optical trap sites within PCWs, calibration of optical fields within PCWs, and utilization of the time-dependent, optically dense atomic medium for novel nonlinear optical experiments.
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.
New opportunities for optical physics emerge from the integration of cold atoms with nanophotonic devices. Due to their small optical loss and tight field confinement, these nanoscale dielectric devices are capable of mediating strong atom-light interactions and open new avenues for quantum transport and quantum many-body phenomena. In particular, coupling atoms to the band edge of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) provides a unique platform for generating tunable range coherent atom-atom interactions which are mediated by the guided mode photons.
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.
Reaching a regime of strong coupling between light and atoms is a long-sought goal in quantum optics, as it will enable non-linear optics at the photon level. Interfacing atoms with guided light in nanophotonic waveguides is a promising route to achieve such regimes. Experimental platforms include nanofibers [1] and photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs), owing to the large transverse confinement of their guided modes. With PCWs, tuning the dispersion relation gives rise to the additional benefit of a very low group velocity of the guided light [2] , allowing for strong coupling even in single pass. Moreover these systems can help explore waveguide-QED and probe exciting novel bandgap physics [3] . While encouraging values of couplings have been observed with first corrugated devices [4] , a photonic platform with trapped atoms via guided modes in the vicinity of a waveguide and lying deep in the strong coupling regime has yet to be demonstrated.
Tailoring the interactions between quantum emitters and single photons constitutes one of the cornerstones of quantum optics. Coupling a quantum emitter to the band edge of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) provides a unique platform for tuning these interactions. In particular, the cross-over from propagating fields [Formula: see text] outside the bandgap to localized fields [Formula: see text] within the bandgap should be accompanied by a transition from largely dissipative atom-atom interactions to a regime where dispersive atom-atom interactions are dominant. Here, we experimentally observe this transition by shifting the band edge frequency of the PCW relative to the [Formula: see text] line of atomic cesium for [Formula: see text] atoms trapped along the PCW. Our results are the initial demonstration of this paradigm for coherent atom-atom interactions with low dissipation into the guided mode.