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Emerging Imaging and Sensing Technologies for Security and Defence

Hybrid, reconfigurable Fresnel zone plate waveguides for ultracold atoms

Matthew Johnson, Anthony Pike, Victoria Henderson, Paul F. Griffin, Erling Riis, Aidan S. Arnold

Published Dec 6, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present work on versatile, compact optical components for waveguided atom interferometry with rotation sensing in mind. These diffractive optical elements: static Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), paired with a dynamic spatial light modulator, expand on the previous design and construction in our group of FZPs for smooth, red-detuned optical waveguides, allowing a wider range of functionality such as dark trapping with blue-detuned light and the generation of multiple, distinct waveguides from single FZPs. Our experiment utilises Bose-Einstein condensates of Rb-87 for interferometry, currently in a free-space configuration, by introducing such waveguides we can reduce the scale of this apparatus while increasing sensitivity to rotation.

DOI
10.1117/12.2638170

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We present work on versatile, compact optical components for waveguided atom interferometry with rotation sensing in mind. These diffractive optical elements: static Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), paired with a dynamic spatial light modulator, expand on the previous design and construction in our group of FZPs for smooth, red-detuned optical waveguides, allowing a wider range of functionality such as dark trapping with blue-detuned light and the generation of multiple, distinct waveguides from single FZPs. Our experiment utilises Bose-Einstein condensates of Rb-87 for interferometry, currently in a free-space configuration, by introducing such waveguides we can reduce the scale of this apparatus while increasing sensitivity to rotation.
Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), with patterns of 1μm resolution and 10 8+ ‘pixels’, allow the formation of clean, diffraction-limited foci – but have a static phase profile. Spatial light modulators (SLMs) allow dynamic control of spatial beam intensity and phase – but are bulky and currently limited to roughly 10μm pixel sizes and 1 Mega-pixel formats. Here, we present a ‘best-of-both’ kind of FZP, scalable to rings orders of magnitude larger than those possible via direct SLM generation. It is equivalent to a plano-convex donut lens, whereby light’s local intensity and global phase at the FZP map directly onto the focal plane. The same FZP under different SLM illumination can generate: rings and arcs, double-rings, phase windings, and ring lattices (or dynamic combinations thereof). The smooth and adaptable near-field waveguide that this enables will be ideal for Sagnac interferometry with ultracold atoms.
We have simulated the optical properties of micro-fabricated Fresnel zone plates (FZPs) as an alternative to spatial light modulators for producing non-trivial light potentials to trap atoms within a lensless Fresnel arrangement. We show that binary (1 bit) FZPs with wavelength (1 μ m) spatial resolution consistently outperform kinoforms of spatial and phase resolution comparable to commercial SLMs in root mean square error comparisons, with FZP kinoforms demonstrating increasing improvement for complex target intensity distributions. Moreover, as sub-wavelength resolution microfabrication is possible, FZPs provide an exciting possibility for the creation of static cold-atom trapping potentials useful to atomtronics, interferometry, and the study of fundamental physics.
We have simulated the optical properties of micro-fabricated Fresnel zone plates (FZPs) as an alternative to spatial light modulators (SLMs) for producing non-trivial light potentials to trap atoms within a lensless Fresnel arrangement. We show that binary (1-bit) FZPs with wavelength (1μm) spatial resolution consistently outperform kinoforms of spatial and phase resolution comparable to commercial SLMs in root mean square error comparisons, with FZP kinoforms demonstrating increasing improvement for complex target intensity distributions. Moreover, as sub-wavelength resolution microfabrication is possible, FZPs provide an exciting possibility for the creation of static cold-atom trapping potentials useful to atomtronics, interferometry, and the study of fundamental physics.
We optically assess Fresnel zone plates (FZPs) that are designed to guide cold atoms. Imaging of various ring patterns produced by the FZPs gives an average RMS error in the brightest part of the ring of 3% with respect to trap depth. This residue is attributed to the imaging system, incident beam shape and FZP manufacturing tolerances. Axial propagation of the potentials is presented experimentally and through numerical simulations, illustrating prospects for atom guiding without requiring light sheets.
We optically assess Fresnel zone plates (FZPs) that are designed to guide cold atoms. Imaging of various ring patterns produced by the FZPs gives an average RMS error in the brightest part of the ring of 3% with respect to trap depth. This residue is attributed to the imaging system, incident beam shape and FZP manufacturing tolerances. Axial propagation of the potentials is presented experimentally and through numerical simulations, illustrating prospects for atom guiding without requiring light sheets.
This thesis details the design, construction and characterisation of an ultracold atoms system, developed in conjunction with a flexible optical trapping scheme which utilises a Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulator (LC SLM). The ultracold atoms system uses a hybrid trap formed of a quadrupole magnetic field and a focused far-detuned laser beam to form a Bose-Einstein Condensate of 2×10⁵ ⁸⁷Rb atoms. Cold atoms confined in several arbitrary optical trapping geometries are created by overlaying the LC SLM trap on to the hybrid trap, where a simple feedback process using the atomic distribution as a metric is shown to be capable of compensating for optical aberrations. Two novel methods for creating flexible optical traps with the LC SLM are also detailed, the first of which is a multi-wavelength technique which allows several wavelengths of light to be smoothly shaped and applied to the atoms. The second method uses a computationally-efficient minimisation algorithm to create light patterns which are constrained in both amplitude and phase, where the extra phase constraint was shown to be crucial for controlling propagation effects of the LC SLM trapping beam.