Direct observation of atomic diffusion in warm rubidium ensembles

We present a robust method for measuring the diffusion coefficients of warm atoms in buffer gases. Using optical pumping, we manipulate the atomic spin in a thin cylinder inside the cell. Then we observe the spatial spread of optically pumped atoms in time using a camera, which allows us to determine the diffusion coefficient. As an example, we demonstrate measurements of diffusion coefficients of rubidium in neon, krypton and xenon acting as buffer gases. We have determined the normalized (273 K, 760 Torr) diffusion coefficients to be 0.18$\pm$0.03 cm$^2$/s for neon, 0.07$\pm$0.01 cm$^2$/s for krypton, and 0.052$\pm$0.006 cm$^2$/s for xenon.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Phonon counting thermometry of an ultracoherent membrane resonator near its motional ground state

Generation of non-Gaussian quantum states of macroscopic mechanical objects is key to a number of challenges in quantum information science, ranging from fundamental tests of decoherence to quantum communication and sensing. Heralded generation of single-phonon states of mechanical motion is an attractive way towards this goal, as it is, in principle, not limited by the object size. Here we demonstrate a technique which allows for generation and detection of a quantum state of motion by phonon counting measurements near the ground state of a 1.5 MHz micromechanical oscillator. We detect scattered photons from a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system using an ultra-narrowband optical filter, and perform Raman-ratio thermometry and second-order intensity interferometry near the motional ground state ($\bar{n}=0.23\pm0.02$ phonons). With an effective mass in the nanogram range, our system lends itself for studies of long-lived non-Gaussian motional states with some of the heaviest objects to date.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Fast imaging of multimode transverse-spectral correlations for twin photons

Hyperentangled photonic states - exhibiting nonclassical correlations in several degrees of freedom - offer improved performance of quantum optical communication and computation schemes. Experimentally, a hyperentanglement of transverse-wavevector and spectral modes can be obtained in a straightforward way with multimode parametric single-photon sources. Nevertheless, experimental characterization of such states remains challenging. Not only single-photon detection with high spatial resolution - a single-photon camera - is required, but also a suitable mode-converter to observe the spectral/temporal degree of freedom. We experimentally demonstrate a measurement of a full 4-dimensional transverse-wavevector-spectral correlations between pairs of photons produced in the non-collinear spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC). Utilization of a custom ultra-fast single-photon camera provides high resolution and a short measurement time.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure