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arXiv:quant-ph/0309052 · Physical Review A

Cavity QED with optically transported atoms

J. A. Sauer, Kevin Fortier, M.-S. Chang, Christopher D. Hamley, Michael Chapman

Published May 19, 2004• 232 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Ultracold $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{atoms}$ are delivered into a high-finesse optical microcavity using a translating optical lattice trap and detected via the cavity field. The atoms are loaded into an optical lattice from a magneto-optic trap and transported $1.5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{cm}$ into the cavity. Our cavity satisfies the strong-coupling requirements for a single intracavity atom, thus permitting real-time observation of single atoms transported into the cavity. This transport scheme enables us to vary the number of intracavity atoms from $1\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}>100$ corresponding to a maximum atomic cooperativity parameter of 5400, the highest value ever achieved in an atom-cavity system. When many atoms are loaded into the cavity, optical bistability is directly measured in real-time cavity transmission.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.69.051804

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Ultracold 87Rbatoms^{87}\mathrm{Rb}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{atoms}87Rbatoms are delivered into a high-finesse optical microcavity using a translating optical lattice trap and detected via the cavity field. The atoms are loaded into an optical lattice from a magneto-optic trap and transported 1.5cm1.5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{cm}1.5cm into the cavity. Our cavity satisfies the strong-coupling requirements for a single intracavity atom, thus permitting real-time observation of single atoms transported into the cavity. This transport scheme enables us to vary the number of intracavity atoms from 1to>1001\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}>1001to>100 corresponding to a maximum atomic cooperativity parameter of 5400, the highest value ever achieved in an atom-cavity system. When many atoms are loaded into the cavity, optical bistability is directly measured in real-time cavity transmission.
Using laser-cooled atoms strongly coupled to a high finesse optical cavity, we have performed real-time continuous measurements of single atomic trajectories in terms of the interaction energy (E/sub int/) with the cavity. Individual transit events reveal a shot-noise limited measurement (fractional) sensitivity of 4/spl times/10/sup -4///spl radic/Hz to variations in E/sub int///spl planck/ within a bandwidth of 1300 kHz. The strong coupling of atom and cavity leads to a maximum interaction energy greater than the kinetic energy of an intracavity laser-cooled atom, even under weak cavity excitation. Evidence of mechanical light forces for intracavity photon number <1 has been observed. The quantum character of the nonlinear optical response of the atom-cavity system is manifested for the trajectory of a single atom.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes electromagnetic fields in a confined space and the radiative properties of atoms in such fields. The simplest example of such system is a single atom interacting with one mode of a high-finesse resonator. Besides observation and exploration of fundamental quantum mechanical effects, this system bears a high potential for applications quantum information science such as, e.g., quantum logic gates, quantum communication and quantum teleportation. In this thesis I present an experiment on the deterministic coupling of a single neutral atom to the mode of a high-finesse optical resonator. In Chapter 1 I describe our basic techniques for trapping and observing single cesium atoms. As a source of single atoms we use a high-gradient magneto-optical trap, which captures the atoms from background gas in a vacuum chamber and cools them down to millikelvin temperatures. The atoms are then transferred without loss into a standing-wave dipole trap, which provides a conservative potential required for experiments on atomic coherence such as quantum information processing and metrology on trapped atoms. Moreover, shifting the standing-wave pattern allows us to deterministically transport the atoms (Chapter 2). In combination with non-destructive fluorescence imaging of individual trapped atoms, this enables us to control their position with submicrometer precision over several millimeters along the dipole trap. The cavity QED system can distinctly display quantum behaviour in the so-called strong coupling regime, i.e., when the coherent atom-cavity coupling rate dominates dissipation in the system. This sets the main requirements on the resonator's properties: small mode volume and high finesse. Chapter 3 is devoted to the manufacturing, assembling, and testing of an ultra-high finesse optical Fabry-Perot resonator, stabilized to the atomic transition. In Chapter 4 I present the transportation of single atoms into the cavity and their coupling to the cavity mode. The strong coupling manifests itself in a strong reduction of the cavity transmission probed by a weak external laser. The atoms remain trapped and coupled to the cavity mode for several seconds until we move them out of the cavity for final analysis of their number and position.
Summary form only given. The strong atom-photon coupling generated inside high-finesse optical micro cavity lets us detect a single atom trajectory in real time. Such a strong coupling is a candidate for trapping a single atom with a single photon. Dynamics of trapped atoms can be observed in situ and in real time by detecting intensity change on the transmission of a blue-shifted laser beam. We cooled down and trapped rubidium atoms by using conventional cell magneto optical trap (MOT) and launched them into the micro optical cavity which locates 35 mm above the MOT. By using this signal as trigger and changing the laser frequency, it is, in principle, possible to trap the atom in the cavity.
We experimentally demonstrate real-time detection of individual cesium atoms by using a high-finesse optical micro-cavity in a strong coupling regime. A cloud of cesium atoms is trapped in a magneto-optical trap positioned at 5 mm above the micro-cavity center. The atoms fall down freely in gravitation after shutting off the magneto-optical trap and pass through the cavity. The cavity transmission is strongly affected by the atoms in the cavity, which enables the micro-cavity to sense the atoms individually. We detect the single atom transits either in the resonance or various detunings. The single atom vacuum-Rabi splitting is directly measured to be Ω = 2π × 23.9 MHz. The average duration of atom-cavity coupling of about 110 μs is obtained according to the probability distribution of the atom transits.
By integrating the techniques of laser cooling and trapping with those of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), single cesium atoms have been trapped within the mode of a small, high finesse optical cavity in a regime of strong coupling. The observed lifetime for individual atoms trapped within the cavity mode is $\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\approx}28\mathrm{ms}$, and is limited by fluctuations of light forces arising from the far-detuned intracavity field. This initial realization of trapped atoms in cavity QED should enable diverse protocols in quantum information science.
The number of atoms trapped within the mode of an optical cavity is determined in real time by monitoring the transmission of a weak probe beam. Continuous observation of atom number is accomplished in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics and functions in concert with a cooling scheme for radial atomic motion. The probe transmission exhibits sudden steps from one plateau to the next in response to the time evolution of the intracavity atom number, from N >= 3 to N = 2 to 1 to 0, with some trapping events lasting over 1 second.