Propagation of light through small clouds of cold interacting atoms

We demonstrate experimentally that a cloud of cold atoms with a size comparable to the wavelength of light can induce large group delays on a laser pulse when the laser is tightly focused on it and is close to an atomic resonance. Delays as large as -10 ns are observed, corresponding to "superluminal" propagation with negative group velocities as low as -300 m/s. Strikingly, this large delay is associated with a moderate extinction owing to the very small size of the cloud and to the light-induced interactions between atoms. It implies that a large phase shift is imprinted on the continuous laser beam, and opens interesting perspectives for applications to quantum technologies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures Supplemental Material : 2 pages, 2 Figure

Homogenization of an ensemble of interacting resonant scatterers

We study theoretically the concept of homogenization in optics using an ensemble of randomly distributed resonant stationary atoms with density $\rho$. The ensemble is dense enough for the usual condition for homogenization, viz. $\rho\lambda^3 \gg 1$, to be reached. Introducing the coherent and incoherent scattered powers, we define two criteria to define the homogenization regime. We find that when the excitation field is tuned in a broad frequency range around the resonance, none of the criteria for homogenization is fulfilled, meaning that the condition $\rho\lambda^3\gg 1$ is not sufficient to characterize the homogenized regime around the atomic resonance. We interpret these results as a consequence of the light-induced dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms, which implies a description of scattering in terms of collective modes rather than as a sequence of individual scattering events. Finally, we show that, although homogenization can never be reached for a dense ensemble of randomly positioned laser-cooled atoms around resonance, it becomes possible if one introduces spatial correlations in the positions of the atoms or non-radiative losses, such as would be the case for organic molecules or quantum dots coupled to a phonon bath.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Corrected mistakes in reference

Evaporative cooling of a small number of atoms in a single-beam microscopic dipole trap

We demonstrate experimentally the evaporative cooling of a few hundred rubidium 87 atoms in a single-beam microscopic dipole trap. Starting from 800 atoms at a temperature of 125microKelvins, we produce an unpolarized sample of 40 atoms at 110nK, within 3s. The phase-space density at the end of the evaporation reaches unity, close to quantum degeneracy. The gain in phase-space density after evaporation is 10^3. We find that the scaling laws used for much larger numbers of atoms are still valid despite the small number of atoms involved in the evaporative cooling process. We also compare our results to a simple kinetic model describing the evaporation process and find good agreement with the data.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Analysis of the entanglement between two individual atoms using global Raman rotations

Making use of the Rydberg blockade, we generate entanglement between two atoms individually trapped in two optical tweezers. In this paper we detail the analysis of the data and show that we can determine the amount of entanglement between the atoms in the presence of atom losses during the entangling sequence. Our model takes into account states outside the qubit basis and allows us to perform a partial reconstruction of the density matrix describing the two atom state. With this method we extract the amount of entanglement between pairs of atoms still trapped after the entangling sequence and measure the fidelity with respect to the expected Bell state. We find a fidelity $F_{\rm pairs} =0.74(7)$ for the 62% of atom pairs remaining in the traps at the end of the entangling sequence

Observation of suppression of light scattering induced by dipole-dipole interactions in a cold atomic ensemble

We study the emergence of collective scattering in the presence of dipole-dipole interactions when we illuminate a cold cloud of rubidium atoms with a near-resonant and weak intensity laser. The size of the atomic sample is comparable to the wavelength of light. When we gradually increase the atom number from 1 to 450, we observe a broadening of the line, a small red shift and, consistently with these, a strong suppression of the scattered light with respect to the noninteracting atom case. Numerical simulations, which include the internal atomic level structure, agree with the data.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Entanglement of two individual neutral atoms using Rydberg blockade

We report the generation of entanglement between two individual $^{87}$Rb atoms in hyperfine ground states $|F=1,M=1>$ and $|F=2,M=2>$ which are held in two optical tweezers separated by 4 $\mu$m. Our scheme relies on the Rydberg blockade effect which prevents the simultaneous excitation of the two atoms to a Rydberg state. The entangled state is generated in about 200 ns using pulsed two-photon excitation. We quantify the entanglement by applying global Raman rotations on both atoms. We measure that 61% of the initial pairs of atoms are still present at the end of the entangling sequence. These pairs are in the target entangled state with a fidelity of 0.75.Comment: text revised, with additional reference

Capillary-gravity wave resistance in ordinary and magnetic fluids

Wave resistance is the drag force associated to the emission of waves by a moving disturbance at a fluid free surface. In the case of capillary-gravity waves it undergoes a transition from zero to a finite value as the speed of the disturbance is increased. For the first time an experiment is designed in order to obtain the wave resistance as a function of speed. The effect of viscosity is explored, and a magnetic fluid is used to extend the available range of critical speeds. The threshold values are in good agreement with the proposed theory. Contrary to the theoretical model, however, the measured wave resistance reveals a non monotonic speed dependence after the threshold.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Capillary-Gravity Waves on Depth-Dependent Currents: Consequences for the Wave Resistance

We study theoretically the capillary-gravity waves created at the water-air interface by a small two-dimensional perturbation when a depth-dependent current is initially present in the fluid. Assuming linear wave theory, we derive a general expression of the wave resistance experienced by the perturbation as a function of the current profile in the case of an inviscid fluid. We then analyze and discuss in details the behavior of the wave resistance in the particular case of a linear current, a valid approximation for some wind generated currents.Comment: Submitted to EP

Entanglement of two individual atoms using the Rydberg blockade

We report on our recent progress on the manipulation of single rubidium atoms trapped in optical tweezers and the generation of entanglement between two atoms, each individually trapped in neighboring tweezers. To create an entangled state of two atoms in their ground states, we make use of the Rydberg blockade mechanism. The degree of entanglement is measured using global rotations of the internal states of both atoms. Such internal state rotations on a single atom are demonstrated with a high fidelity.Comment: Proceeding of the 19th International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy ICOLS 2009, 7-13 June 2009, Hokkaido, Japa