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Non-Reciprocal Amplification of Light Using Cold Atoms Coupled to an Optical Nanofiber

Sebastian Pucher, Christian Liedl, Shu‐Wei Jin, Arno Rauschenbeutel, Philipp Schneeweiß

Published Jan 1, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical nanofibers realized as the waist of tapered silica fibers can be used to trap and optically interface laser-cooled atoms. Building on this system, we experimentally show a novel scheme for the nonreciprocal Raman amplification of light. While typically either the magneto-optical effect, a temporal modulation or an optical nonlinearity is employed to break reciprocity, in our approach, this results from the spin of the atoms forming the gain medium. By taking advantage of the inherent spin-momentum locking present in optical nanofibers, we perform an experiment in which we set the amplification direction by a suitable preparation of the atomic spin state. Our approach is general and, suitable quantum emitters provided, could also be implemented beyond the optical domain of the electromagnetic spectrum.

DOI
10.1051/epjconf/202226611012

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Optical nanofibers realized as the waist of tapered silica fibers can be used to trap and optically interface laser-cooled atoms. Building on this system, we experimentally show a novel scheme for the nonreciprocal Raman amplification of light. While typically either the magneto-optical effect, a temporal modulation or an optical nonlinearity is employed to break reciprocity, in our approach, this results from the spin of the atoms forming the gain medium. By taking advantage of the inherent spin-momentum locking present in optical nanofibers, we perform an experiment in which we set the amplification direction by a suitable preparation of the atomic spin state. Our approach is general and, suitable quantum emitters provided, could also be implemented beyond the optical domain of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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The realization of nanophotonic optical isolators with high optical isolation even at ultralow light levels and low optical losses is an open problem. Here, we employ the link between the local polarization of strongly confined light and its direction of propagation to realize low-loss nonreciprocal transmission through a silica nanofiber at the single-photon level. The direction of the resulting optical isolator is controlled by the spin state of cold atoms. We perform our experiment in two qualitatively different regimes, i.e., with an ensemble of cold atoms where each atom is weakly coupled to the waveguide and with a single atom strongly coupled to the waveguide mode. In both cases, we observe simultaneously high isolation and high forward transmission. The isolator concept constitutes a nanoscale quantum optical analog of microwave ferrite resonance isolators, can be implemented with all kinds of optical waveguides and emitters, and might enable novel integrated optical devices for fiber-based classical and quantum networks.
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Optical nanofibers – very thin, tapered optical fibers where the waist diameter is less than the propagating light wavelength – have been shown to be very useful tools for atom-light interactions. Their small size and relative ease of integration into optical fiber-based experimental setups, in addition to their minimal perturbation on magneto-optically trapped cold atoms, have ensured their adoption into cold atom physics. Here, we will discuss some recent applications of optical nanofibers to manipulate, trap, and control cold 87Rb atoms in ground or Rydberg states. We will present some recent experimental and theoretical results related to the interactions between the atoms and the optical nanofiber field and introduce some of the limitations observed.