429 research outputs found
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 scales as where is the
resonant optical depth of the ensemble. In real alkali atoms there are loss
channels and the scaling may be closer to 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
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
Non-destructive interferometric characterization of an optical dipole trap
A method for non-destructive characterization of a dipole trapped atomic
sample is presented. It relies on a measurement of the phase-shift imposed by
cold atoms on an optical pulse that propagates through a free space
Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Using this technique we are able to determine,
with very good accuracy, relevant trap parameters such as the atomic sample
temperature, trap oscillation frequencies and loss rates. Another important
feature is that our method is faster than conventional absorption or
fluorescence techniques, allowing the combination of high-dynamical range
measurements and a reduced number of spontaneous emission events per atom.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR
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
Quantum noise limited interferometric measurement of atomic noise: towards spin squeezing on the Cs clock transition
We investigate theoretically and experimentally a nondestructive
interferometric measurement of the state population of an ensemble of laser
cooled and trapped atoms. This study is a step towards generation of (pseudo-)
spin squeezing of cold atoms targeted at the improvement of the Caesium clock
performance beyond the limit set by the quantum projection noise of atoms. We
calculate the phase shift and the quantum noise of a near resonant optical
probe pulse propagating through a cloud of cold 133Cs atoms. We analyze the
figure of merit for a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement of the
collective pseudo-spin and show that it can be expressed simply as a product of
the ensemble optical density and the pulse integrated rate of the spontaneous
emission caused by the off-resonant probe light. Based on this, we propose a
protocol for the sequence of operations required to generate and utilize spin
squeezing for the improved atomic clock performance via a QND measurement on
the probe light. In the experimental part we demonstrate that the
interferometric measurement of the atomic population can reach the sensitivity
of the order of N_at^1/2 in a cloud of N_at cold atoms, which is an important
benchmark towards the experimental realisation of the theoretically analyzed
protocol.Comment: 12 pages and 9 figures, accepted to Physical Review
Mesoscopic atomic entanglement for precision measurements beyond the standard quantum limit
Squeezing of quantum fluctuations by means of entanglement is a well
recognized goal in the field of quantum information science and precision
measurements. In particular, squeezing the fluctuations via entanglement
between two-level atoms can improve the precision of sensing, clocks,
metrology, and spectroscopy. Here, we demonstrate 3.4 dB of metrologically
relevant squeezing and entanglement for ~ 10^5 cold cesium atoms via a quantum
nondemolition (QND) measurement on the atom clock levels. We show that there is
an optimal degree of decoherence induced by the quantum measurement which
maximizes the generated entanglement. A two-color QND scheme used in this paper
is shown to have a number of advantages for entanglement generation as compared
to a single color QND measurement.Comment: 6 pages+suppl, PNAS forma
Inhomogeneous Light Shift Effects on Atomic Quantum State Evolution in Non-Destructive Measurements
Various parameters of a trapped collection of cold and ultracold atoms can be
determined non--destructively by measuring the phase shift of an off--resonant
probe beam, caused by the state dependent index of refraction of the atoms. The
dispersive light--atom interaction, however, gives rise to a differential light
shift (AC Stark shift) between the atomic states which, for a nonuniform probe
intensity distribution, causes an inhomogeneous dephasing between the atoms. In
this paper, we investigate the effects of this inhomogeneous light shift in
non--destructive measurement schemes. We interpret our experimental data on
dispersively probed Rabi oscillations and Ramsey fringes in terms of a simple
light shift model which is shown to describe the observed behavior well.
Furthermore, we show that by using spin echo techniques, the inhomogeneous
phase shift distribution between the two clock levels can be reversed.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, updated introduction and reference lis
Entanglement between more than two hundred macroscopic atomic ensembles in a solid
We create a multi-partite entangled state by storing a single photon in a
crystal that contains many large atomic ensembles with distinct resonance
frequencies. The photon is re-emitted at a well-defined time due to an
interference effect analogous to multi-slit diffraction. We derive a lower
bound for the number of entangled ensembles based on the contrast of the
interference and the single-photon character of the input, and we
experimentally demonstrate entanglement between over two hundred ensembles,
each containing a billion atoms. In addition, we illustrate the fact that each
individual ensemble contains further entanglement. Our results are the first
demonstration of entanglement between many macroscopic systems in a solid and
open the door to creating even more complex entangled states.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; see also parallel submission by Frowis et a
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