Spin squeezing of atomic ensembles by multi-colour quantum non-demolition measurements

We analyze the creation of spin squeezed atomic ensembles by simultaneous dispersive interactions with several optical frequencies. A judicious choice of optical parameters enables optimization of an interferometric detection scheme that suppresses inhomogeneous light shifts and keeps the interferometer operating in a balanced mode that minimizes technical noise. We show that when the atoms interact with two-frequency light tuned to cycling transitions the degree of spin squeezing $\xi^2$ scales as $\xi^2\sim 1/d$ where $d$ is the resonant optical depth of the ensemble. In real alkali atoms there are loss channels and the scaling may be closer to $\xi^2\sim 1/\sqrt d.$ Nevertheless the use of two-frequencies provides a significant improvement in the degree of squeezing attainable as we show by quantitative analysis of non-resonant probing on the Cs D1 line. Two alternative configurations are analyzed: a Mach-Zehnder interferometer that uses spatial interference, and an interaction with multi-frequency amplitude modulated light that does not require a spatial interferometer.Comment: 7 figure

Are Brain-Computer Interfaces Feasible withIntegrated Photonic Chips?

The present paper examines the viability of a radically novel idea for brain-computer interface (BCI), which could lead to novel technological, experimental and clinical applications. BCIs are computer-based systems that enable either one-way or two-way communication between a living brain and an external machine. BCIs read-out brain signals and transduce them into task commands, which are performed by a machine. In closed-loop the machine can stimulate the brain with appropriate signals. In recent years, it has been shown that there is some ultraweak light emission from neurons within or close to the visible and near-infrared parts of the optical spectrum. Such ultraweak photon emission (UPE) reflects the cellular (and body) oxidative status, and compelling pieces of evidence are beginning to emerge that UPE may well play an informational role in neuronal functions. In fact, several experiments point to a direct correlation between UPE intensity and neural activity, oxidative reactions, EEG activity, cerebral blood flow, cerebral energy metabolism, and release of glutamate. Therefore, we propose a novel skull implant BCI that uses UPE. We suggest that a photonic integrated chip installed on the interior surface of the skull may enable a new form of extraction of the relevant features from the UPE signals. In the current technology landsacepe, photonic technologies are advancing rapidly and poised to overtake many electrical technologies, due to their unique advantages, such as miniaturization, high speed, low thermal effects, and large integration capacity that allow for high yield, volume manufacturing, and lower cost. For our proposed BCI, we are making some very major conjectures, which need to be experimentally verified, and therefore we discuss the controversial parts, feasibility of technology and limitations, and potential impact of this envisaged technology if successfully implemented in the future.BERC.2018-2021 Severo Ochoa.SEV-2017-071

Diffraction effects on light-atomic ensemble quantum interface

We present a simple method to include the effects of diffraction into the description of a light-atomic ensemble quantum interface in the context of collective variables. Carrying out a scattering calculation we single out the purely geometrical effect. We apply our method to the experimentally relevant case of Gaussian shaped atomic samples stored in single beam optical dipole traps and probed by a Gaussian beam. We derive analytical scaling relations for the effect of the interaction geometry and compare our findings to results from 1-dimensional models of light propagation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, comments welcom