201 research outputs found
Fluctuations in the formation time of ultracold dimers from fermionic atoms
We investigate the temporal fluctuations characteristic of the formation of
molecular dimers from ultracold fermionic atoms via Raman photoassociation. The
quantum fluctuations inherent to the initial atomic state result in large
fluctuations in the passage time from atoms to molecules. Assuming degeneracy
of kinetic energies of atoms in the strong coupling limit we find that a
heuristic classical stochastic model yields qualitative agreement with the full
quantum treatment in the initial stages of the dynamics. We also show that in
contrast to the association of atoms into dimers, the reverse process of
dissociation from a condensate of bosonic dimers exhibits little passage time
fluctuations. Finally we explore effects due to the non-degeneracy of atomic
kinetic energies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Matter-Wave Decoherence due to a Gas Environment in an Atom Interferometer
Decoherence due to scattering from background gas particles is observed for
the first time in a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, and compared with
decoherence due to scattering photons. A single theory is shown to describe
decoherence due to scattering either atoms or photons. Predictions from this
theory are tested by experiments with different species of background gas, and
also by experiments with different collimation restrictions on an atom beam
interferometer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PR
Decoherence due to elastic Rayleigh scattering
We present theoretical and experimental studies of the decoherence of
hyperfine ground-state superpositions due to elastic Rayleigh scattering of
light off-resonant with higher lying excited states. We demonstrate that under
appropriate conditions, elastic Rayleigh scattering can be the dominant source
of decoherence, contrary to previous discussions in the literature. We show
that the elastic-scattering decoherence rate of a two-level system is given by
the square of the difference between the elastic-scattering \textit{amplitudes}
for the two levels, and that for certain detunings of the light, the amplitudes
can interfere constructively even when the elastic scattering \textit{rates}
from the two levels are equal. We confirm this prediction through calculations
and measurements of the total decoherence rate for a superposition of the
valence electron spin levels in the ground state of Be in a 4.5 T
magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Scalable ion traps for quantum information processing
We report on the design, fabrication, and preliminary testing of a 150 zone
array built in a `surface-electrode' geometry microfabricated on a single
substrate. We demonstrate transport of atomic ions between legs of a `Y'-type
junction and measure the in-situ heating rates for the ions. The trap design
demonstrates use of a basic component design library that can be quickly
assembled to form structures optimized for a particular experiment
Cavity cooling of a nanomechanical resonator by light scattering
We present a novel method for opto-mechanical cooling of sub-wavelength sized
nanomechanical resonators. Our scheme uses a high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity of
small mode volume, within which the nanoresonator is acting as a
position-dependant perturbation by scattering. In return, the back-action
induced by the cavity affects the nanoresonator dynamics and can cool its
fluctuations. We investigate such cavity cooling by scattering for a nanorod
structure and predict that ground-state cooling is within reach.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Direct Measurement of the System-Environment Coupling as a Tool For Understanding Decoherence and Dynamical Decoupling
Decoherence is a major obstacle to any practical implementation of quantum
information processing. One of the leading strategies to reduce decoherence is
dynamical decoupling --- the use of an external field to average out the effect
of the environment. The decoherence rate under any control field can be
calculated if the spectrum of the coupling to the environment is known. We
present a direct measurement of the bath coupling spectrum in an ensemble of
optically trapped ultracold atoms, by applying a spectrally narrow-band control
field. The measured spectrum follows a Lorentzian shape at low frequencies, but
exhibits non-monotonic features at higher frequencies due to the oscillatory
motion of the atoms in the trap. These features agree with our analytical
models and numerical Monte-Carlo simulations of the collisional bath. From the
inferred bath-coupling spectrum, we predict the performance of well-known
dynamical decoupling sequences: CPMG, UDD and CDD. We then apply these
sequences in experiment and compare the results to predictions, finding good
agreement in the weak-coupling limit. Thus, our work establishes experimentally
the validity of the overlap integral formalism, and is an important step
towards the implementation of an optimal dynamical decoupling sequence for a
given measured bath spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Long-time Low-latency Quantum Memory by Dynamical Decoupling
Quantum memory is a central component for quantum information processing
devices, and will be required to provide high-fidelity storage of arbitrary
states, long storage times and small access latencies. Despite growing interest
in applying physical-layer error-suppression strategies to boost fidelities, it
has not previously been possible to meet such competing demands with a single
approach. Here we use an experimentally validated theoretical framework to
identify periodic repetition of a high-order dynamical decoupling sequence as a
systematic strategy to meet these challenges. We provide analytic
bounds-validated by numerical calculations-on the characteristics of the
relevant control sequences and show that a "stroboscopic saturation" of
coherence, or coherence plateau, can be engineered, even in the presence of
experimental imperfection. This permits high-fidelity storage for times that
can be exceptionally long, meaning that our device-independent results should
prove instrumental in producing practically useful quantum technologies.Comment: abstract and authors list fixe
Fabrication and heating rate study of microscopic surface electrode ion traps
We report heating rate measurements in a microfabricated gold-on-sapphire
surface electrode ion trap with trapping height of approximately 240 micron.
Using the Doppler recooling method, we characterize the trap heating rates over
an extended region of the trap. The noise spectral density of the trap falls in
the range of noise spectra reported in ion traps at room temperature. We find
that during the first months of operation the heating rates increase by
approximately one order of magnitude. The increase in heating rates is largest
in the ion loading region of the trap, providing a strong hint that surface
contamination plays a major role for excessive heating rates. We discuss data
found in the literature and possible relation of anomalous heating to sources
of noise and dissipation in other systems, namely impurity atoms adsorbed on
metal surfaces and amorphous dielectrics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
- …