Nuclear-spin memories of divalent neutral atoms can allow spin-preserving resolved-sideband cooling in a strong magnetic field [I. Reichenbach and I. H. Deutsch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 123001 (2007)]. We present a theory for cooling
87Sr nuclear-spin qubits in a weak magnetic field. The theory depends on laser excitation of
5s5p3P1 to a nearby state which results in
mJ-dependent AC Stark shifts large compared to the hyperfine interaction. This effectively suppresses the nuclear-spin mixing due to the hyperfine interaction. Sideband cooling via the clock state quenched by the AC Stark-shifted
3P1 state leads to nuclear-spin-preserving spontaneous emission back to the ground state. More than being compatible with low magnetic fields, the theory is applicable when the nuclear-spin qubits are defined by the two lowest Zeeman substates.
We propose a method for laser cooling two-valence-electron fermionic atoms. Our protocol employs resolved-sideband cooling on the stimulated Raman transition between the two magnetic sublevels (m = F and m = F − 1) of the ground state with total angular momentum F. The optical pumping from m = F − 1 to 1 P 1 are used to decouple atoms in the m = F − 1 state. We calculate the Raman coupling generated by an engineered optical lattice. The result shows that it is possible to laser cool the two-valence-electron fermionic atoms to the ground state. The atoms in the ground state provide a new system for quantum optics.
Ultracold neutral atoms in optical lattices are rich systems for the investigation of many-body physics as well as for the implementation of quantum information processing. While traditionally alkali atoms were used for this research, in recent years alkaline-earth-like atoms have attracted considerable interest. This is due to their more complex but tractable internal structure and easily accessible transitions. Furthermore, alkaline-earth-like atoms have extremely narrow
1S→3P intercombination transitions, which lend themselves for the implementation of next generation atomic clocks. In this dissertation, I show that exquisite control of alkaline-earth-like atoms can be reached with optical methods, and elucidate ways to use this controllability to further different aspects of research, mainly quantum information processing. Additionally, the control of alkaline-earth-like atoms is very interesting in many-body physics and the improvement of atomic clocks. Since heating usually degrades the performance of quantum gates, recooling of qubits is a necessity for the implementation of large scale quantum computers. Laser cooling has advantages over the usually used sympathetic cooling, given that it requires no additional atoms, which have to be controlled separately. However, for qubits stored in hyperfine states, as usually done in alkali atoms, laser cooling leads to optical pumping and therefore to loss of coherence. On the other hand, in the ground state, the nuclear spin of alkaline-earth-like atoms is decoupled from the electronic degrees of freedom. As I show in this dissertation, this allows for the storage of quantum information in the nuclear spin and laser cooling on the electronic degrees of freedom. The recooling protocol suggested here consists of two steps: resolved sideband cooling on the extremely narrow
1S0→3P0 clock transition and subsequent quenching on the much shorter lived
1P1 state. A magnetic field is used to overcome the hyperfine interaction in this excited state and thus ensures decoupling of the nuclear spin degrees of freedom during the quenching. The application of this magnetic field also allows for photon scattering on the
1P1 state, while preserving the nuclear spin, e. g. for electronic qubit detection. The manipulation of the scattering properties of neutral atoms is an important aspect of quantum control. In contrast to alkali atoms, whose broad linewidths cause large losses, this can be done with purely optical methods via the implementation of an optical Feshbach resonance for alkaline-earth-like atoms. Here, the scattering length resulting from the application of an optical Feshbach resonance on the
1S0→3P1 intercombination line, including hyperfine interaction and rotation is calculated for
171Yb. Due to their different parities, the p-wave scattering length can be controlled independently from the s-wave scattering length, thus allowing for unprecedented control over the scattering properties of neutral atoms. Furthermore, I also show how optical Feshbach resonances in alkaline-earth-like atoms can be used together with the underlying quantum symmetry to implement collisional gates between nuclear-spin qubits over comparatively long ranges.
We trap neutral Cs atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice and cool them close to the zero point of motion by resolved-sideband Raman cooling. Sideband cooling occurs via transitions between the vibrational manifolds associated with a pair of magnetic sublevels, and the required Raman coupling is provided by the lattice potential itself. We obtain mean vibrational excitations ${\overline{n}}_{x}\ensuremath{\approx}{\overline{n}}_{y}<0.024$, corresponding to a population
>95 in the vibrational ground state. Atoms in the ground state of an optical lattice provide a new system in which to explore quantum state control and subrecoil laser cooling.
Laser cooling of single atoms in optical tweezers is a prerequisite for neutral atom quantum computing and simulation. Resolved sideband cooling comprises a well-established method for efficient motional ground-state preparation, but typically requires careful cancellation of light shifts in so-called magic traps. Here, we study a novel laser cooling scheme which overcomes such constraints, and applies when the ground state of a narrow cooling transition is trapped stronger than the excited state. We demonstrate our scheme, which exploits sequential addressing of red sideband transitions via frequency chirping of the cooling light, at the example of
88Sr atoms and report ground-state populations compatible with recent experiments in magic tweezers. The scheme also induces light-assisted collisions, which are key to the assembly of large atom arrays. Our work enriches the toolbox for tweezer-based quantum technology, also enabling applications for tweezer-trapped molecules and ions that are incompatible with resolved sideband cooling conditions.
We developed a resolved Raman sideband cooling scheme that can efficiently prepare a single optically trapped cesium (Cs) atom in its motional ground states. A two-photon Raman process between two outermost Zeeman sublevels in a single hyperfine state is applied to reduce the phonon number. Our scheme is less sensitive to the variation in the magnetic field than the commonly used scheme where the two outermost Zeeman sublevels belonging to the two separate ground hyperfine states are taken. Fast optical pumping with less spontaneous emission guarantees the efficiency of the cooling process. After cooling for 50 ms, 82% of the Cs atoms populate their three-dimensional ground states. Our scheme improves the long-term stability of Raman sideband cooling in the presence of magnetic field drift and is thus suitable for cooling other trapped atoms or ions with abundant magnetic sublevels.