Phys.org July 29, 2024
It remains a challenging task to efficiently trap a large ensemble of cold atoms on an integrated nanophotonic circuit. Researchers at Purdue University demonstrated direct loading of an ensemble of up to 70 atoms into an optical microtrap on a nanophotonic microring circuit by employing degenerate Raman-sideband cooling in the microtrap, where a built-in spin-motion coupling arose directly from the vector light shift of the evanescent-field potential on a microring. Atoms were cooled into the trap via optical pumping with a single free space beam. They achieved a trap lifetime approaching 700 ms under continuous cooling. They showed that the trapped atoms displayed large cooperative coupling and super radiant decay into a whispering-gallery mode of the microring resonator, holding promise for explorations of new collective effects. According to the researchers their technique can be extended to trapping a large ensemble of cold atoms on nanophotonic circuits for various quantum applications… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Atom trapping on a nanophotonic microring circuit… Credit: Phys. Rev. X 14, 031004, 9 July 2024