Integrated optical components on atom chips
TL;DR: In this paper, the integration of small-scale optical components into silicon wafers for use in atom chips is described, and an on-chip fibre-optic atom detection scheme that can probe clouds with small atom numbers is presented.
Abstract: We report on the integration of small-scale optical components into silicon wafers for use in atom chips. We present an on-chip fibre-optic atom detection scheme that can probe clouds with small atom numbers. The fibres can also be used to generate microscopic dipole traps. We describe our most recent results with optical microcavities and show that a sufficiently high finesse can be achieved to enable single-atom detection on an atom chip. The key components have been fabricated by etching directly into the atom chip silicon substrate.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a comprehensive description of the basic concepts and fabrication techniques of microtraps together with early pioneering experiments, emphasis is placed on current experiments on degenerate quantum gases.
Abstract: Trapping and manipulating ultracold atoms and degenerate quantum gases in magnetic micropotentials is reviewed. Starting with a comprehensive description of the basic concepts and fabrication techniques of microtraps together with early pioneering experiments, emphasis is placed on current experiments on degenerate quantum gases. This includes the loading of quantum gases in microtraps, coherent manipulation, and transport of condensates together with recently reported experiments on matter-wave interferometry on a chip. Theoretical approaches for describing atoms in waveguides and beam splitters are briefly summarized, and, finally, the interaction between atoms and the surface of microtraps is covered in some detail.
598 citations
TL;DR: Time-resolved counting of single atoms extracted from a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms is demonstrated.
Abstract: We demonstrate time-resolved counting of single atoms extracted from a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms. The atoms are detected with a high-finesse optical cavity and single atom transits are identified. An atom laser beam is formed by continuously output coupling atoms from the Bose-Einstein condensate. We investigate the full counting statistics of this beam and measure its second order correlation function g((2))(tau) in a Hanbury Brown-Twiss type experiment. For the monoenergetic atom laser we observe a constant correlation function g((2))(tau)=1.00 +/- 0.01 and an atom number distribution close to a Poissonian statistics. A pseudothermal atomic beam shows a bunching behavior and a Bose distributed counting statistics.
318 citations
Cites methods from "Integrated optical components on at..."
...The integration of a high finesse optical cavity in a Bose - Einstein condensation system, despite being a central goal for atom chips [37, 38], has only recently been achieved with the apparatus described here [39]....
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TL;DR: The cavity design combines the intrinsic scalability of microfabrication processes with direct coupling of the cavity field to single-mode optical waveguides or fibers to build an optical microcavity network on an atom chip for applications in quantum information processing.
Abstract: A microfabricated Fabry-Perot optical resonator has been used for atom detection and photon production with less than 1 atom on average in the cavity mode. Our cavity design combines the intrinsic scalability of microfabrication processes with direct coupling of the cavity field to single-mode optical waveguides or fibers. The presence of the atom is seen through changes in both the intensity and the noise characteristics of probe light reflected from the cavity input mirror. An excitation laser passing transversely through the cavity triggers photon emission into the cavity mode and hence into the single-mode fiber. These are first steps toward building an optical microcavity network on an atom chip for applications in quantum information processing.
117 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors demonstrate a fully integrated and scalable waveguide chip that can control the polarization and intensity of light using a row of independent atomic junctions, which may enable quantum states of matter and light to be engineered on a microscopic scale.
Abstract: Scientists demonstrate a fully integrated and scalable waveguide chip that can control the polarization and intensity of light using a row of independent atomic junctions The device may enable quantum states of matter and light to be engineered on a microscopic scale
67 citations
Cites background from "Integrated optical components on at..."
...A pair of these fibres looking into each other can be used to detect an atom cloud and can reach close to single atom sensitivity [15]....
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...On a scale ten times smaller, several groups have explored how optical fibres, typically 125μm in diameter, may be glued [14, 15, 16] or otherwise attached [17] to a chip....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present and characterize an experimental system in which they achieve the integration of an ultrahigh finesse optical cavity with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).
Abstract: We present and characterize an experimental system in which we achieve the integration of an ultrahigh finesse optical cavity with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The conceptually novel design of the apparatus for the production of BECs features nested vacuum chambers and an in vacuo magnetic transport configuration. It grants large scale spatial access to the BEC for samples and probes via a modular and exchangeable “science platform.” We are able to produce Rb87 condensates of 5×106 atoms and to output couple continuous atom lasers. The cavity is mounted on the science platform on top of a vibration isolation system. The optical cavity works in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics and serves as a quantum optical detector for single atoms. This system enables us to study atom optics on a single particle level and to further develop the field of quantum atom optics. We describe the technological modules and the operation of the combined BEC cavity apparatus. Its performance is ch...
65 citations
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TL;DR: This work observes a quantum phase transition in a Bose–Einstein condensate with repulsive interactions, held in a three-dimensional optical lattice potential, and can induce reversible changes between the two ground states of the system.
Abstract: For a system at a temperature of absolute zero, all thermal fluctuations are frozen out, while quantum fluctuations prevail. These microscopic quantum fluctuations can induce a macroscopic phase transition in the ground state of a many-body system when the relative strength of two competing energy terms is varied across a critical value. Here we observe such a quantum phase transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate with repulsive interactions, held in a three-dimensional optical lattice potential. As the potential depth of the lattice is increased, a transition is observed from a superfluid to a Mott insulator phase. In the superfluid phase, each atom is spread out over the entire lattice, with long-range phase coherence. But in the insulating phase, exact numbers of atoms are localized at individual lattice sites, with no phase coherence across the lattice; this phase is characterized by a gap in the excitation spectrum. We can induce reversible changes between the two ground states of the system.
4,467 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip, can be found in this article.
Abstract: We give a comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip.
660 citations
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TL;DR: A comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip, can be found in this article.
Abstract: We give a comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip.
564 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe manipulation of neutral atoms using the magnetic field of microfabricated current-carrying conductors and demonstrate how this method can be used to achieve adiabatic magnetic transport from one reservoir to another.
Abstract: We describe manipulation of neutral atoms using the magnetic field of microfabricated current-carrying conductors. It is shown how this method can be used to achieve adiabatic magnetic transport from one reservoir to another. In the first experimental realization of a microfabricated magnetic neutral-atom trap, efficient loading is achieved with a novel mirror-magneto-optic trap. A cloud of rubidium atoms is stored and compressed using the magnetic field of a ``U''-shaped wire carrying a current of 2 A. An evaporation mechanism is demonstrated which removes hot atoms from the trap by collisions with the substrate surface.
418 citations
TL;DR: An overview of the rapidly evolving field of magnetic microchip traps for neutral atoms is given in this article, where Bose-Einstein condensation and scaling laws are developed to estimate the ultimate confinement of chip traps.
Abstract: The article gives an overview of the rapidly evolving field of magnetic microchip traps (also called ‘atom chips’) for neutral atoms Special attention is given to Bose–Einstein condensation in such traps, to the particular properties of microchip trap potentials, and to practical considerations in their design Scaling laws are developed, which lead to an estimate of the ultimate confinement that chip traps can provide Future applications such as integrated atom interferometers are discussed
313 citations