Cavity-mediated cooling using nanostructured surfaces
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Cavity-mediated cooling has emerged as the only general technique with the potential to cool molecular species down to the microkelvin temperatures needed for quantum coherence and degeneracy. The EuroQUAM CMMC project will link leading theoreticians and experimentalists, including the technique's inventors and experimental pioneers, to develop it into a truly practical technique, reinforcing European leadership in this field. Four major experiments will explore a spectrum of complementary configurations and cavity-mediated cooling will be applied to molecules for the first time; a comprehensive theoretical programme will meanwhile examine the underlying mechanisms and identify the optimal route to practicality. The close connections between theory and experiment, and between pathfinding and underpinning studies, will allow each to guide and inform the others, ensuring that cavity-mediated cooling is swiftly developed as a broad enabling technology for new realms of quantum coherent molecular physics and chemistry.The Southampton component will address, both experimentally and theoretically, fundamental aspects of the cooling process that result from the retarded interaction of a trapped molecule with its reflection in a single mirror, and developments of this prototype scheme that exploit nanostructured mirror arrays that can be produced in our fabrication facilities, and which show both geometric and plasmonic resonances. Our particular aims are hence to understand and explore the most basic version of cavity-mediated cooling, and to develop new implementations suitable for nanoscale integration as a future technology.
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- Aarhus University (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences (Collaboration)
- Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich) (Collaboration)
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (Project Partner)
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (Project Partner)
- Harvard University (Project Partner)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Project Partner)
- Universität Innsbruck (Project Partner)
- Institute of Photonic Sciences (Project Partner)
- Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics (Project Partner)
Publications
Bateman J
(2010)
Stimulated Raman transitions via multiple atomic levels
in Physical Review A
Cooper N
(2013)
Trapping of 85 Rb atoms by optical pumping between metastable hyperfine states
in Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Cooper N
(2013)
Stabilized fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer for carrier-frequency rejection.
in Applied optics
Cooper N
(2012)
Actively stabilized wavelength-insensitive carrier elimination from an electro-optically modulated laser beam
in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Horak P
(2012)
Optically induced structural phase transitions in ion Coulomb crystals
in Physical Review A
Horak P
(2010)
Optical Cooling of Atoms in Microtraps by Time-Delayed Reflection
in Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience
Ohadi H
(2009)
Magneto-optical trapping and background-free imaging for atoms near nanostructured surfaces.
in Optics express
P. Domokos (Author)
(2011)
Efficient optomechanical cooling in one-dimensional interferometers
in Proceedings- Spie the International Society for Optical Engineering
Xuereb A
(2010)
Optomechanical cooling with generalized interferometers.
in Physical review letters
Xuereb A
(2011)
Cavity cooling of atoms: within and without a cavity
in The European Physical Journal D
Xuereb A
(2012)
Dynamical scattering models in optomechanics: going beyond the 'coupled cavities' model
in New Journal of Physics
Xuereb A
(2009)
Atom cooling using the dipole force of a single retroflected laser beam
in Physical Review A
Xuereb A
(2011)
Amplified optomechanics in a unidirectional ring cavity
Xuereb A
(2009)
Scattering theory of cooling and heating in optomechanical systems
in Physical Review A
Xuereb A
(2011)
Amplified optomechanics in a unidirectional ring cavity
in Journal of Modern Optics
Xuereb A
(2011)
Cavity cooling of atoms: Within and without a cavity
| Description | Cavity-mediated cooling has emerged as the only general technique with the potential to cool molecular species down to the microkelvin temperatures needed for quantum coherence and degeneracy. The EuroQUAM CMMC project has linked leading theoreticians and experimentalists, including the technique's inventors and experimental pioneers, to develop it into a truly practical technique, reinforcing European leadership in this field. Four major experiments continue to explore a spectrum of complementary configurations, and cavity-mediated cooling will soon be applied to molecules for the first time; a comprehensive theoretical programme has meanwhile examined the underlying mechanisms and identified the optimal routes to practicality. The close connections between theory and experiment, and between pathfinding and underpinning studies, have allowed each to guide and inform the others, ensuring that cavity-mediated cooling is swiftly developed as a broad enabling technology for new realms of quantum coherent molecular physics and chemistry. The Southampton component aimed to address, both experimentally and theoretically, fundamental aspects of the cooling process that result from the retarded interaction of a trapped molecule with its reflection in a single mirror, and developments of this prototype scheme that exploit nanostructured mirror arrays that can be produced in our fabrication facilities, and which show both geometric and plasmonic resonances. Our particular aims have been to understand and explore the most basic version of cavity-mediated cooling, and to develop new implementations suitable for nanoscale integration as a future technology. Our studies have explored cavity-mediated cooling, and its generic prototype of 'mirror-mediated cooling', through classical, semi-classical and classical optics approaches, allowing the investigation of a wide variety of configurations and enhancements as well as a the development of a profound understanding of the underlying mechanisms from a range of viewpoints. As a result, we have been able both to contribute to the understanding of cavity-mediated cooling itself, and to propose and evaluate a range of related schemes, including the use of external resonators, loop feedback and optical gain. Of particular interest has been the extension of these schemes to the cooling of microfabricated optomechanical structures and mechanisms. Optomechanics has emerged as a high-level research topic worldwide during the course of our project, and we have been quick to extend our cavity cooling work into this area. |
| Exploitation Route | The extension of laser cooling to a wider variety of species potentially allows greater control of atomic and molecular reagents, with implications for studies and control of chemical reactions and synthesis. Combined with trapping near nanostructured surfaces, it could enhance the sensitivity of chemical and isotopic detection. Applied to micromechanical systems, our cooling techniques could increase the sensitivity of MEMS-style accelerometers, gyroscopes and electric/magnetic field detectors. These techniques will be of direct interest to others studying and developing optomechanically cooled and trapped species and samples for spectroscopy, quantum physics, inertial and electromagnetic sensing, quantum information processing, and investigation of the quantum-classical transition. |
| Sectors | Aerospace/ Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
| URL | http://phyweb.phys.soton.ac.uk/quantum/ |
| Description | Harvard University |
| Organisation | Harvard University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | Institute of Photonic Sciences |
| Organisation | ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | Ludwig Maximilians University Munich |
| Organisation | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | Max Planck Inst for Quantum Optics |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona |
| Organisation | Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | University of Arhus |
| Organisation | Aarhus University |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |