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arXiv:physics/0611154 · Optics Express

Optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms

Sonja Franke‐Arnold, J. Leach, Miles J. Padgett, V. E. Lembessis, Demosthenes Ellinas, Amanda J. Wright, John M. Girkin, Patrik Öhberg, A. S. Arnold

Published Jun 26, 2007• 366 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a versatile optical ring lattice suitable for trapping cold and quantum degenerate atomic samples. We demonstrate the realisation of intensity patterns from pairs of Laguerre-Gauss (exp(i??) modes with different ? indices. These patterns can be rotated by introducing a frequency shift between the modes. We can generate bright ring lattices for trapping atoms in red-detuned light, and dark ring lattices suitable for trapping atoms with minimal heating in the optical vortices of blue-detuned light. The lattice sites can be joined to form a uniform ring trap, making it ideal for studying persistent currents and the Mott insulator transition in a ring geometry.

DOI
10.1364/oe.15.008619

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We propose a versatile optical ring lattice suitable for trapping cold and quantum degenerate atomic samples. We demonstrate the realisation of intensity patterns from pairs of Laguerre-Gauss (exp(i??) modes with different ? indices. These patterns can be rotated by introducing a frequency shift between the modes. We can generate bright ring lattices for trapping atoms in red-detuned light, and dark ring lattices suitable for trapping atoms with minimal heating in the optical vortices of blue-detuned light. The lattice sites can be joined to form a uniform ring trap, making it ideal for studying persistent currents and the Mott insulator transition in a ring geometry.
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New counterpropagating geometries are presented for localizing ultracold atoms in the dark regions created by the interference of Laguerre-Gaussian laser beams. In particular dark helices, an "optical revolver," axial lattices of rings, and axial lattices of ring lattices of rings are considered and a realistic scheme for achieving phase stability is explored. The dark nature of these traps will enable their use as versatile tools for low-decoherence atom interferometry with zero differential light shifts.
We demonstrate confinement of 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb atoms in a dark, toroidal optical trap. We use a spatial light modulator to convert a single blue-detuned Gaussian laser beam to a superposition of Laguerre-Gaussian modes that forms a ring-shaped intensity null bounded harmonically in all directions. We measure a 1∕e1∕e1∕e spin-relaxation lifetime of $\ensuremath{\approx}1.5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}$ for a trap detuning of 4.0nm4.0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}4.0nm. For smaller detunings, a time-dependent relaxation rate is observed. We use these relaxation rate measurements and imaging diagnostics to optimize trap alignment in a programmable manner with the modulator. The results are compared with numerical simulations.
We have demonstrated preparing and rotating single neutral rubidium atoms in an optical ring lattice generated by a spatial light modulator, inserting two atoms into a single microscopic optical potential efficiently by dynamically reshaping the optical dipole trap, trapping single atoms in a blue detuned optical bottle beam trap, and confining single atoms into the Lamb-Dicke regime by combining red and blue detuned optical potentials. In combination with the manipulation of internal states of single atoms, the study is opening a way for research in the field of quantum information processing and quantum simulation. In this paper we review the past works and discuss the prospects.
Abstract \nThis work is split into two parts, in part one of this thesis we report on the improvement of the lifetime of a quantum memory based on neutral atoms while in part two we will focus on a new setup to perform experiments on neutral atoms within a 2D optical lattice. In the quantum memory experiment we used a blue-detuned optical dipole trap to confine the atoms in a minimum intensity region of the light beam, reducing dephasing due to differential light shift. We saw improvement in comparison to a previous experiment \nusing red-detuned dipole traps. The anticipated lifetime could not be reached, however. We observed oscillations of the retrievability of our stored state which we explain by the evolution of the transversal component of the spinwave using Monte-Carlo simulations. In the second part we report on our new setup, built to investigate a broad range of \nexperiments regarding 2D physics on optical lattices. This field is of special interest as it allows to simulate Hamiltonians of a wide range e.g. from solid state physics and opens possibilities regarding large-scale Entanglement/one-way computing. In particular we discuss 2D Mott-insulators, 2D-Bloch oscillation induced transport phenomena and ring-exchange in a superlattice plaquette. \n