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Controlled insertion and retrieval of atoms coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator

Mkrtych Khudaverdyan, Wolfgang Alt, I. Dotsenko, Tobias Kampschulte, K. Lenhard, Arno Rauschenbeutel, Sebastian Reick, K Schörner, Artur Widera, Dieter Meschede

Published Aug 4, 2013• 43 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Abstract. We experimentally investigate the interaction between one and two atoms and the field of a high-finesse optical resonator. Laser-cooled caesium atoms are transported into the cavity using an optical dipole trap. We monitor the interaction dynamics of a single atom strongly coupled to the resonator mode for several hundred milliseconds by observing the cavity transmission. Moreover, we investigate the position-dependent coupling of one and two atoms by shuttling them through the cavity mode. We demonstrate an alternative method, which suppresses heating effects, to analyze the atom-field interaction by retrieving the atom from the cavity and by measuring its final state.

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Controlled insertion and retrieval of atoms coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator

M Khudaverdyan, W Alt, I. Dotsenko +7 more

We experimentally investigate the interaction between one and two atoms and the field of a high-finesse optical resonator. Laser-cooled caesium atoms are transported into the cavity using an optical dipole trap. We monitor the interaction dynamics of a single atom strongly coupled to the resonator mode for several hundred milliseconds by observing the cavity transmission. Moreover, we investigate the position-dependent coupling of one and two atoms by shuttling them through the cavity mode. We demonstrate an alternative method, which suppresses heating effects, to analyse the atom–field interaction by retrieving the atom from the cavity and by measuring its final state.

arXiv:0805.0765•New Journal of Physics•Jul 11, 2008•65 citations

Single atoms on demand for cavity QED experiments

I. Dotsenko

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes electromagnetic fields in a confined space and the radiative properties of atoms in such fields. The simplest example of such system is a single atom interacting with one mode of a high-finesse resonator. Besides observation and exploration of fundamental quantum mechanical effects, this system bears a high potential for applications quantum information science such as, e.g., quantum logic gates, quantum communication and quantum teleportation. In this thesis I present an experiment on the deterministic coupling of a single neutral atom to the mode of a high-finesse optical resonator. In Chapter 1 I describe our basic techniques for trapping and observing single cesium atoms. As a source of single atoms we use a high-gradient magneto-optical trap, which captures the atoms from background gas in a vacuum chamber and cools them down to millikelvin temperatures. The atoms are then transferred without loss into a standing-wave dipole trap, which provides a conservative potential required for experiments on atomic coherence such as quantum information processing and metrology on trapped atoms. Moreover, shifting the standing-wave pattern allows us to deterministically transport the atoms (Chapter 2). In combination with non-destructive fluorescence imaging of individual trapped atoms, this enables us to control their position with submicrometer precision over several millimeters along the dipole trap. The cavity QED system can distinctly display quantum behaviour in the so-called strong coupling regime, i.e., when the coherent atom-cavity coupling rate dominates dissipation in the system. This sets the main requirements on the resonator's properties: small mode volume and high finesse. Chapter 3 is devoted to the manufacturing, assembling, and testing of an ultra-high finesse optical Fabry-Perot resonator, stabilized to the atomic transition. In Chapter 4 I present the transportation of single atoms into the cavity and their coupling to the cavity mode. The strong coupling manifests itself in a strong reduction of the cavity transmission probed by a weak external laser. The atoms remain trapped and coupled to the cavity mode for several seconds until we move them out of the cavity for final analysis of their number and position.

•Jan 1, 2007•5 citations

Controlled insertion of one and two atoms into a high-finesse optical cavity

Wolfgang Alt, I. Dotsenko, Tobias Kampschulte +5 more

Entangled quantum states have applications as a model system for strongly correlated many body states, as resource for quantum information processing and as a tool for enhanced precision measurements. Deterministic entanglement schemes create the desired state by transferring the system under the action of a carefully chosen Hamiltonian into an entangled state. The system must follow a unitary evolution, and uncontrolled parasitic interactions with the environment leading to spontaneous decay or partial measurements of the state have to be avoided. The paper present an experiment, on loading a chosen number of Doppler-cooled caesium atoms from a magneto-optical trap into a standing wave optical dipole trap. The positions of the individual atoms are then determined with sub-micrometer precision, enabling to prepare, to manipulate and to read out the quantum state of each atom. Using the dipole trap as an optical conveyor belt, the atoms are transported into the mode of a high-finesse optical cavity.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2007•0 citations

Internal and external dynamics of a strongly-coupled atom-cavity system

Sebastian Reick

A system comprised of a small number of neutral atoms coupled to the mode of a high finesse optical resonator is a model system to study light-matter interaction at the quantum level and to explore fundamental effects like the influence of the measurement process on the atomic state. Promising proposals to generate entangled states in such systems are based on the simultaneous coupling of two atoms to one resonator mode. In chapter 1 of this thesis I shortly summarise the experimental tools to capture, trap, and transport single atoms using a magneto-optical trap and an optical conveyor belt. I discuss theoretical foundations to describe our system and present numerical simulations, the results of which enter the analysis of our experimental data. The average atom-cavity coupling strength is deduced from the measured cavity transmission and compared to a model taking atomic motion into account. The dynamics of the hyperfine spin state of one and two coupled atoms is the focus of chapter 2. I describe a nondestructive cavity-based state detection method, quantify the state detection fidelity, and identify optimum experimental parameters. This method is then used to record random telegraph signals, exhibiting quantum jumps on a timescale of milliseconds. Telegraph signals for two atoms are analysed employing Bayesian statistics, yielding additional information on the evolution of the hyperfine states. A good localisation of the atom is necessary to achieve stable coupling to the cavity mode. In chapter 3, I discuss two different aspects of how the motion of the atom can be controlled. Firstly an intracavity dipole trap is characterised and it is shown that it results in improved confinement of the atom. Secondly I examine the dependence of cavity-cooling forces on our experimental parameters and compare two different cooling regimes.

•Jan 1, 2009•1 citation

Controlling the motion of an atom in an optical cavity

Thomas H. Fischer

An experiment is described where slow laser-cooled atoms are injected into a high-finesse optical cavity. Single atoms are trapped in the cavity light field and observed by measuring the light intensity transmitted through the cavity. Feedback-based methods are realized to extend the time the atom stays in the cavity. The influence of atoms on the cavity transmission and the light force on atoms in a cavity are also analyzed theoretically. This allows to study the motion of an atom in the cavity and to interpret the experimental transmission signals. The current limitations for the storage time are identified and a strategy to overcome them is suggested. Apart from that, a method is proposed which allows a two-dimensional position measurement of atoms in the cavity.

•Jan 1, 2003•1 citation

Single atoms bound in orbit by single photons

Christina J. Hood, T. W. Lynn, Andrew C. Doherty +3 more

Two recent experiments are discussed which demonstrate real-time trapping and monitoring of single atoms within a high-finesse optical resonator. A single atom moving within the resonator generates large variations in the transmission of a weak probe laser, which are recorded in real time. These cavity QED signals are used to trigger ON a confining potential to trap the atom. In the first experiment, the confining potential is provided by the single-photon forces associated with the cavity QED interaction. An inversion algorithm allows individual atom trajectories to be reconstructed from the record of cavity transmission, and reveals single atoms bound in orbit by the mechanical forces associated with single photons. In a second experiment, an additional classical standing-wave dipole trap provides the trapping, enabling a 28 ms trap lifetime for single strongly coupled atoms.

Laser Physics•Jan 1, 2001•4 citations
Abstract. We experimentally investigate the interaction between one and two atoms and the field of a high-finesse optical resonator. Laser-cooled caesium atoms are transported into the cavity using an optical dipole trap. We monitor the interaction dynamics of a single atom strongly coupled to the resonator mode for several hundred milliseconds by observing the cavity transmission. Moreover, we investigate the position-dependent coupling of one and two atoms by shuttling them through the cavity mode. We demonstrate an alternative method, which suppresses heating effects, to analyze the atom-field interaction by retrieving the atom from the cavity and by measuring its final state.
We experimentally investigate the interaction between one and two atoms and the field of a high-finesse optical resonator. Laser-cooled caesium atoms are transported into the cavity using an optical dipole trap. We monitor the interaction dynamics of a single atom strongly coupled to the resonator mode for several hundred milliseconds by observing the cavity transmission. Moreover, we investigate the position-dependent coupling of one and two atoms by shuttling them through the cavity mode. We demonstrate an alternative method, which suppresses heating effects, to analyse the atom–field interaction by retrieving the atom from the cavity and by measuring its final state.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes electromagnetic fields in a confined space and the radiative properties of atoms in such fields. The simplest example of such system is a single atom interacting with one mode of a high-finesse resonator. Besides observation and exploration of fundamental quantum mechanical effects, this system bears a high potential for applications quantum information science such as, e.g., quantum logic gates, quantum communication and quantum teleportation. In this thesis I present an experiment on the deterministic coupling of a single neutral atom to the mode of a high-finesse optical resonator. In Chapter 1 I describe our basic techniques for trapping and observing single cesium atoms. As a source of single atoms we use a high-gradient magneto-optical trap, which captures the atoms from background gas in a vacuum chamber and cools them down to millikelvin temperatures. The atoms are then transferred without loss into a standing-wave dipole trap, which provides a conservative potential required for experiments on atomic coherence such as quantum information processing and metrology on trapped atoms. Moreover, shifting the standing-wave pattern allows us to deterministically transport the atoms (Chapter 2). In combination with non-destructive fluorescence imaging of individual trapped atoms, this enables us to control their position with submicrometer precision over several millimeters along the dipole trap. The cavity QED system can distinctly display quantum behaviour in the so-called strong coupling regime, i.e., when the coherent atom-cavity coupling rate dominates dissipation in the system. This sets the main requirements on the resonator's properties: small mode volume and high finesse. Chapter 3 is devoted to the manufacturing, assembling, and testing of an ultra-high finesse optical Fabry-Perot resonator, stabilized to the atomic transition. In Chapter 4 I present the transportation of single atoms into the cavity and their coupling to the cavity mode. The strong coupling manifests itself in a strong reduction of the cavity transmission probed by a weak external laser. The atoms remain trapped and coupled to the cavity mode for several seconds until we move them out of the cavity for final analysis of their number and position.
Entangled quantum states have applications as a model system for strongly correlated many body states, as resource for quantum information processing and as a tool for enhanced precision measurements. Deterministic entanglement schemes create the desired state by transferring the system under the action of a carefully chosen Hamiltonian into an entangled state. The system must follow a unitary evolution, and uncontrolled parasitic interactions with the environment leading to spontaneous decay or partial measurements of the state have to be avoided. The paper present an experiment, on loading a chosen number of Doppler-cooled caesium atoms from a magneto-optical trap into a standing wave optical dipole trap. The positions of the individual atoms are then determined with sub-micrometer precision, enabling to prepare, to manipulate and to read out the quantum state of each atom. Using the dipole trap as an optical conveyor belt, the atoms are transported into the mode of a high-finesse optical cavity.
A system comprised of a small number of neutral atoms coupled to the mode of a high finesse optical resonator is a model system to study light-matter interaction at the quantum level and to explore fundamental effects like the influence of the measurement process on the atomic state. Promising proposals to generate entangled states in such systems are based on the simultaneous coupling of two atoms to one resonator mode. In chapter 1 of this thesis I shortly summarise the experimental tools to capture, trap, and transport single atoms using a magneto-optical trap and an optical conveyor belt. I discuss theoretical foundations to describe our system and present numerical simulations, the results of which enter the analysis of our experimental data. The average atom-cavity coupling strength is deduced from the measured cavity transmission and compared to a model taking atomic motion into account. The dynamics of the hyperfine spin state of one and two coupled atoms is the focus of chapter 2. I describe a nondestructive cavity-based state detection method, quantify the state detection fidelity, and identify optimum experimental parameters. This method is then used to record random telegraph signals, exhibiting quantum jumps on a timescale of milliseconds. Telegraph signals for two atoms are analysed employing Bayesian statistics, yielding additional information on the evolution of the hyperfine states. A good localisation of the atom is necessary to achieve stable coupling to the cavity mode. In chapter 3, I discuss two different aspects of how the motion of the atom can be controlled. Firstly an intracavity dipole trap is characterised and it is shown that it results in improved confinement of the atom. Secondly I examine the dependence of cavity-cooling forces on our experimental parameters and compare two different cooling regimes.
An experiment is described where slow laser-cooled atoms are injected into a high-finesse optical cavity. Single atoms are trapped in the cavity light field and observed by measuring the light intensity transmitted through the cavity. Feedback-based methods are realized to extend the time the atom stays in the cavity. The influence of atoms on the cavity transmission and the light force on atoms in a cavity are also analyzed theoretically. This allows to study the motion of an atom in the cavity and to interpret the experimental transmission signals. The current limitations for the storage time are identified and a strategy to overcome them is suggested. Apart from that, a method is proposed which allows a two-dimensional position measurement of atoms in the cavity.
Two recent experiments are discussed which demonstrate real-time trapping and monitoring of single atoms within a high-finesse optical resonator. A single atom moving within the resonator generates large variations in the transmission of a weak probe laser, which are recorded in real time. These cavity QED signals are used to trigger ON a confining potential to trap the atom. In the first experiment, the confining potential is provided by the single-photon forces associated with the cavity QED interaction. An inversion algorithm allows individual atom trajectories to be reconstructed from the record of cavity transmission, and reveals single atoms bound in orbit by the mechanical forces associated with single photons. In a second experiment, an additional classical standing-wave dipole trap provides the trapping, enabling a 28 ms trap lifetime for single strongly coupled atoms.