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Sensors

Photonic Crystal Surface Modes for Trapping and Waveguiding of Ultracold Atoms

Valery N. Konopsky

Published Oct 30, 2023• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The design of a photonic system for the trapping and waveguiding of ultracold atoms far above a dielectric surface is proposed and analyzed. The system consists of an optical rib waveguide deposited on a planar one-dimensional photonic crystal, which sustains two wavelengths of photonic crystal surface modes tuned in the red and blue sides relative to the atomic transition of the neutral atom. The addition of a third blue-tuned wavelength to the system allows the neutral atoms to be stabilized in the lateral dimension above the rib waveguide. Trapping atoms at relatively large distances, more than 600 nm above the dielectric surface, allows to reduce the influence of Casimir-Polder forces in this system. The detailed design methodology and specifications of the photonic system are provided. The presented design can be employed in atomic chips and quantum sensors.

DOI
10.3390/s23218812

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The design of a photonic system for the trapping and waveguiding of ultracold atoms far above a dielectric surface is proposed and analyzed. The system consists of an optical rib waveguide deposited on a planar one-dimensional photonic crystal, which sustains two wavelengths of photonic crystal surface modes tuned in the red and blue sides relative to the atomic transition of the neutral atom. The addition of a third blue-tuned wavelength to the system allows the neutral atoms to be stabilized in the lateral dimension above the rib waveguide. Trapping atoms at relatively large distances, more than 600 nm above the dielectric surface, allows to reduce the influence of Casimir-Polder forces in this system. The detailed design methodology and specifications of the photonic system are provided. The presented design can be employed in atomic chips and quantum sensors.
I describe one-dimensional photonic crystals that support a guided mode suitable for atom trapping within a unit cell, as well as a second probe mode with strong atom-photon interactions. A new hybrid trap is analyzed that combines optical and Casimir-Polder forces to form stable traps for neutral atoms in dielectric nanostructures. By suitable design of the band structure, the atomic spontaneous emission rate into the probe mode can exceed the rate into all other modes by more than tenfold. An unprecedented single-atom reflectivity greater than 90% for the guided probe field should enable diverse investigations of photon-mediated interactions for 1D atom chains and cavity QED.
We describe one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystals that support a guided mode suitable for atom trapping within a unit cell, as well as a second probe mode with strong atom–photon interactions. A new hybrid trap is analyzed that combines optical and Casimir–Polder forces to form stable traps for neutral atoms in dielectric nanostructures. By suitable design of the band structure, the atomic spontaneous emission rate into the probe mode can exceed the rate into all other modes by more than tenfold. The unprecedented single-atom reflectivity r 0 ≳ 0.9 for the guided probe field should enable diverse investigations of photon-mediated interactions for 1D atom chains and cavity quantum electrodynamics.
The trapping of ultra-cold atoms using two-color evanescent light waves formed by propagating modes of suspended optical rib waveguides is modeled in different configurations. Reducing the anisotropy of the two-color evanescent optical dipole potential requires two laser light components with a large frequency difference. The upper frequency is guided in the two lowest transverse waveguide modes, and the lower frequency propagates in a single-mode regime. This increases the depth of the dipole potential in the lateral direction. An additional increase in the optical dipole potential can be achieved by tuning the frequencies of the two modes to two different atomic transitions. When applied to rubidium, the total depth of the corresponding surface optical dipole traps can reach 0.3 mK or greater under reasonable conditions.
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.
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.
The emerging field of on-chip integration of nanophotonic devices and cold atoms offers extremely strong and pure light-matter interaction schemes, which may have profound impact on quantum information science. In this context, a long-standing obstacle is to achieve strong interaction between single atoms and single photons, while at the same time trap atoms in vacuum at large separation distances from dielectric surfaces. In this work, we study new waveguide geometries that challenge these conflicting objectives. The designed photonic crystal waveguides are expected to offer a good compromise, which additionally allow for easy manipulation of atomic clouds around the structure.