Abstract We present a spin two-axis-twisting mechanism via coherent population trapping (CPT) based atom–photon interactions. CPT happens and the atoms are trapped in the dark state (coherent superposition of two ground states) when the ground states are resonantly coupled to a common excited state. Close to CPT, the atoms behave as two dark-state based spins, which interact with the common cavity vacuum fields. The otherwise nonexistent interaction is created between them and is identified to be responsible for the two-axis-twisting of the ground state spin. The essential difference from the previous schemes is the compatibility of the twisting spin squeezing with the resonant atom-light interaction. The CPT resonant unit serves as a kind of new ingredients for the quantum networks.
Ultracold atoms in an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity are a powerful platform to produce spin squeezing since photon of cavity mode can induce nonlinear spin-spin interaction and thus generate a one-axis twisting Hamiltonian
HOAT=qJx2, whose corresponding maximal squeezing factor scales as
N−2/3, where
N is the atomic number. On the contrary, for the other two-axis twisting Hamiltonian
HTAT=q(Jx2−Jy2), the maximal squeezing factor scales as
N−1, approaching the Heisenberg limit. In this paper, inspired by recent experiments of cavity-assisted Raman transitions, we propose a scheme, in which an ensemble of ultracold six-level atoms interacts with two quantized cavity fields and two pairs of Raman lasers, to realize a tunable two-axis spin Hamiltonian
. For proper parameters, the above one- and two- axis twisting Hamiltonians are recovered, and the scaling of
N−1 of the maximal squeezing factor can occur naturally. On the other hand, in the two-axis twisting Hamiltonian, spin squeezing is usually reduced when increasing the effective atomic resonant frequency
ω0. Surprisingly, we find that by combined with the dimensionless parameter
χ(>−1), the effective atomic resonant frequency
ω0 can enhance spin squeezing largely. These results are benefit for achieving the required spin squeezing in experiments.
Spin squeezing has important applications in the field of quantum metrology and quantum information processing. Here we propose that coherent population trapping is well suitable for establishing cavity dissipation mechanism and generating a spin-squeezed state. An ensemble of N double Λ -type atoms is placed inside the two-mode optical cavity, where one Λ subsystem is driven resonantly by two strong control fields to form a dark resonance and the other Λ subsystem is coupled by two cavity vacuum fields and two external fields with large detunings. Due to the dark resonance, the atoms are trapped in a dark state and one has the maximal coherence between the two ground states. Two double off-resonance stimulated Raman scattering interactions are induced between fields and dressed atoms to establish a dissipative quantum dynamical process based on a collective cavity reservoir. As a result, strong stable spin squeezing is generated, which is verified by our numerical and analytical results. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We present a scheme to generate unitarily two-mode and four-mode field squeezing in optical cavities with the near-resonantly dressed three-level atoms in the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ configuration. The dressing fields open two coherent population trapping (CPT) windows, within which the atoms stay predominantly in the dark state and yield strong nonlinearities for both the dressing fields themselves and the other applied fields. The two-mode squeeze operator is separated from degrees of freedom of atoms in a common CPT window, and the multimode squeeze operator is segregated in different CPT windows. The resulting two-mode and multimode interaction strengths are at least one order higher than in the previous dispersive schemes, where all fields are far off resonant with the atoms. The present near-resonant scheme is robust to spontaneous emission since atoms are nearly trapped in a long-lived superposition state.
In general, the process of spin squeezing is employed for atomic sensors that are essentially free from the effect of spontaneous emission. In the case of an atomic clock based on coherent population trapping, spontaneous emission plays a key role. Specifically, when the clock is realized in the Ramsey configuration employing a pair of pulses separated in time, it is the spontaneous emission process during the first pulse that creates the coherent population trapping, by optically pumping the atoms into the so-called dark state. We show in this talk that it is still possible to apply the process of spin squeezing to enhance the sensitivity of such a clock, by designing carefully the sequence of steps in the protocol. Specifically, we consider the approach of using the maximally entangled Schroedinger Cat states, produced via one axis twist squeezing, to achieve Heisenberg Limited sensitivity, representing an improvement in sensitivity by as much as four orders of magnitude.