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Atoms

Forced Atom Interferometers in Optical Harmonic Potentials

Mingjie Xin, Wui Seng Leong, Zilong Chen, Shau-Yu Lan

Published Apr 3, 2025• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a study of Doppler-sensitive light-pulse atom interferometers operating within optical dipole potentials, where atomic trajectories are manipulated using momentum transfer from light pulses and optical forces from the trap. Efficient methods are introduced to minimize the inhomogeneous broadening of oscillation frequencies in atoms confined within a three-dimensional optical lattice trap. These techniques enable the preparation of various quantum states, including vacuum, thermal, and squeezed states, for atom interferometry. Additionally, we demonstrate a two-dimensional atom interferometer using a single optical dipole trap, where transverse motion is activated by offsetting the trap position. Our work provides insights into controlling the mechanical motion of neutral atoms in optical harmonic potentials and contributes to advancing applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing.

DOI
10.3390/atoms13040030

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We present a study of Doppler-sensitive light-pulse atom interferometers operating within optical dipole potentials, where atomic trajectories are manipulated using momentum transfer from light pulses and optical forces from the trap. Efficient methods are introduced to minimize the inhomogeneous broadening of oscillation frequencies in atoms confined within a three-dimensional optical lattice trap. These techniques enable the preparation of various quantum states, including vacuum, thermal, and squeezed states, for atom interferometry. Additionally, we demonstrate a two-dimensional atom interferometer using a single optical dipole trap, where transverse motion is activated by offsetting the trap position. Our work provides insights into controlling the mechanical motion of neutral atoms in optical harmonic potentials and contributes to advancing applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing.
We study a system of neutral atoms trapped in a three-dimensional optical lattice suitable for the encoding, initialization and manipulation of atomic qubits. The qubits are manipulated by applied electromagnetic fields interacting with dipole moments of the atoms via light shifts, Raman transitions, Zeeman shifts, and microwave transitions. Our lattice is formed by three orthogonal one-dimensional lattices, which have different frequencies so that interference terms average to zero. This geometry allows considerable freedom in designing the component one-dimensional lattices, so that they provide not only confinement but also independent control in each dimension. Our atomic qubits are initialized from a laser-cooled atomic sample by Raman sideband cooling in individual lattice potential wells. We have demonstrated accurate and robust one-qubit manipulation using resonant microwave fields. In practice such control operations are always subject to errors, in our case spatial inhomogeneities in the microwave Rabi frequency and the light shifted qubit transition frequency. Observation of qubit dynamics in near real time allows us to minimize these inhomogeneities, and therefore optimize qubit logic gates. For qubits in the lattice, we infer a fidelity of 0.990(3) for a single pi-pulse. We have also explored the use of NMR-type pulse techniques in order to further reduce the effect of errors and thus improve gate robustness in the atom/lattice system. Our schemes for two-qubit quantum logic operations are based on controlled collisional interactions. We have experimented with two schemes in order to probe these collisions. The first involves manipulation of the center-of-mass wavepackets of two qubits in a geometry corresponding to two partially overlapping Mach-Zender interferometers. Unfortunately, this scheme has proven extremely sensitive to phase errors, as the wavepackets are moved by the optical lattice. The other scheme starts with two qubits in spatially separated traps, and utilizes microwaves to drive one or both qubits into a third trap in-between the two qubits. Once the wavepackets overlap, the collisions create a large energy shift which can be probed spectroscopically.
Abstract Coherent manipulation of atoms with atom-optic light pulses is central to atom interferometry. Achieving high pulse efficiency is essential for enhancing fringe contrast and sensitivity, in particular for large-momentum transfer interferometers which use an increased number of pulses. We perform an investigation of optimizing the frequency domain of pulses by using tailored polychromatic light fields, and demonstrate the possibility to deliver high-efficiency and resilient atom-optic pulses even in the situation of inhomogeneous atomic clouds and laser beams. We find that this approach is able to operate over long interrogation times despite spontaneous emission and to achieve experimentally relevant pulse efficiencies for clouds up to 100 μK100~\mu \text{K}100 μK 100 μ K . This overcomes some of the most stringent barriers for large-momentum transfer and has the potential to reduce the complexity of atom interferometers. We show that polychromatic light pulses could enhance single-photon-based large-momentum transfer atom interferometry—achieving 850 ℏk850\,\hbar k850ℏk 850 ħ k of momentum splitting with experimentally accessible parameters, which represents a significant improvement over the state-of-the art. The benefits of the method extend beyond atom interferometry and could enable groundbreaking advances in quantum state manipulation.
Precision interferometry with atomic wavepackets confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice is an emergent paradigm in quantum sensing of forces and fields, with applications in gravimetry, accelerometry, geophysics, and fundamental physics tests. We report on the realization of a lattice-trapped interferometer where the two arms are sourced from a weakly-interacting ytterbium Bose-Einstein condensate, coherently split and trapped by pulsed optical standing waves before recombination. We directly observe atomic interactions through contrast changes and phase shifts of the interferometer. By changing either the atom number or the sample volume to vary the density, we demonstrate control over interactions and optimize interferometer performance. Our observations are effectively captured by a mean-field theoretical model of the system. This work experimentally probes the boundary where improved performance from source brightening through higher phase space density transitions into a regime beyond single-atom physics in lattice-trapped atom interferometry, and opens a door to incorporating many-body effects for metrological advances in such platforms.
Advances in the preparation and detection, but most importantly in the coherent manipulation of single neutral atoms have allowed the observation of intriguing phenomena of quantum physics in recent years. We discuss developments to prepare and detect single neutral atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice potential with single site resolution. Moreover, using two different experimental techniques, a state-dependent optical lattice potential on the one hand and a high-finesse optical cavity on the other hand, we have obtained coherent control over single neutral atoms. The former has enabled us to observe the quantum walk of atoms in position space, and to coherently control the motion of trapped atoms via microwave radiation. The latter offers a means to non-destructively detect the atomic spin state, thereby revealing quantum jumps of single atoms, or the altered optical properties of single atoms when subject to electromagnetically-induced transparency.
This thesis presents experiments concerning the preparation and manipulation of single neutral atoms in optical traps. The experimental setup as well as the properties of the optical dipole trap are described. The examination and control of all trapping parameters and heating effects is a prerequisite for the future realization of quantum gates. A magneto-optical trap captures and cools down a few cesium atoms. By efficiently detecting their fluorescence, we are able to determine their exact number. They are then transferred without loss into a standing-wave optical dipole trap. The temperature of the atoms in this trap is measured using two methods which are devised to work with small numbers of atoms: By adiabatically lowering the trap depth, an energy-selective loss of atoms is obtained, which yields the energy distribution of the atoms in the trap. Alternatively, the temperature is inferred from the size of the cloud and from the oscillation frequencies of the atoms in the dipole trap. The oscillation frequencies are determined using resonant and parametric excitation. Various intrinsic as well as technical heating mechanisms in the dipole trap are examined experimentally and theoretically. Finally, the setup of a miniature ultra-high finesse optical resonator is presented, which will be used to couple two trapped atoms via the exchange of a photon. The optical resonance frequency of the resonator is successfully stabilized to the atomic transition by an electronic servo loop.
Atomic interferometers measure forces and acceleration with exceptional precision. The conventional approach to atomic interferometry is to launch an atomic cloud into a ballistic trajectory and perform the wave-packet splitting in momentum space by Raman transitions. This places severe constraints on the possible atomic trajectory, positioning accuracy, and probing duration. Here, we propose and analyze an alternative atomic interferometer that uses micro-optical traps (optical tweezers) to manipulate and control the motion of atoms. This interferometer allows long probing time, submicrometer positioning accuracy, and utmost flexibility in the shaping of the atomic trajectory. The cornerstone of the tweezer interferometer consists of the coherent atomic splitting and combining schemes. We present two adiabatic schemes with two or three tweezers that are robust in the presence of experimental imperfections and work simultaneously with many vibrational states. The latter property allows for multiatom interferometry in a single run. We also highlight the advantage of using fermionic atoms to obtain single-atom occupation of vibrational states and to eliminate mean-field shifts. We examine the impact of tweezer intensity noise and demonstrate that, when constrained by shot noise, the interferometer can achieve a relative accuracy better than ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ in measuring Earth's gravitational acceleration. The submicrometer resolution and extended measurement duration offer promising opportunities for exploring fundamental physical laws in new regimes. We discuss two applications well suited for the unique capabilities of the tweezer interferometer: the measurement of gravitational forces and the study of Casimir-Polder forces between atoms and surfaces. Crucially, our proposed tweezer interferometer is within the reach of current technological capabilities.