Our team has developed a new approach to entangling neutral atoms with a Rydberg-dressed interaction. Entangling neutral atoms is an essential key of quantum technologies such as quantum computation, many-body quantum simulation, and high-precision atomic sensors . The demonstrated Rydberg-dressed protocol involves adiabatically imposing a light shift on the ground state by coupling an excited Rydberg state with a tuned laser field. Using this technique, we have demonstrated a strong and tunable dipole - dipole interaction between two individually trapped atoms with energy shifts of order 1 MHz, which has been challenging to achieve in other protocols . During this program, we experimentally demonstrated Bell-state entanglement and the isomorphism to the Jaynes - Cumming model of a Rydberg-dressed two-atom system. Our theoretical calculations of a CPHASE quantum logic gate and arbitrary Dicke state quantum control in this system encourage further work.
Controlling the quantum entanglement between parts of a many-body system is key to unlocking the power of quantum technologies such as quantum computation, high-precision sensing, and the simulation of many-body physics. The spin degrees of freedom of ultracold neutral atoms in their ground electronic state provide a natural platform for such applications thanks to their long coherence times and the ability to control them with magneto-optical fields. However, the creation of strong coherent coupling between spins has been challenging. Here we demonstrate a strong and tunable Rydberg-dressed interaction between spins of individually trapped caesium atoms with energy shifts of order 1 MHz in units of Planck's constant. This interaction leads to a ground-state spin-flip blockade, whereby simultaneous hyperfine spin flips of two atoms are inhibited owing to their mutual interaction. We employ this spin-flip blockade to rapidly produce single-step Bell-state entanglement between two atoms with a fidelity 81(2)%.
We study a scheme for implementing a controlled-Z (cz) gate between two neutral-atom qubits based on the Rydberg blockade mechanism in a manner that is robust to errors caused by atomic motion. By employing adiabatic dressing of the ground electronic state, we can protect the gate from decoherence due to random phase errors that typically arise because of atomic thermal motion. In addition, the adiabatic protocol allows for a Doppler-free configuration that involves counterpropagating lasers in a σ+/σ- orthogonal polarization geometry that further reduces motional errors due to Doppler shifts. The residual motional error is dominated by dipole-dipole forces acting on doubly excited Rydberg atoms when the blockade is imperfect. For reasonable parameters, with qubits encoded into the clock states of Cs133, we predict that our protocol could produce a cz gate in <10 μs with error probability on the order of 10-3.
We study a scheme for implementing a controlled-Z (CZ) gate between two neutral-atom qubits based on the Rydberg blockade mechanism in a manner that is robust to errors caused by atomic motion. By employing adiabatic dressing of the ground electronic state, we can protect the gate from decoherence due to random phase errors that typically arise because of atomic thermal motion. In addition, the adiabatic protocol allows for a Doppler-free configuration that involves counterpropagating lasers in a σ+/σ- orthogonal polarization geometry that further reduces motional errors due to Doppler shifts. The residual motional error is dominated by dipole-dipole forces acting on doubly-excited Rydberg atoms when the blockade is imperfect. As a result, for reasonable parameters, with qubits encoded into the clock states of 133Cs, we predict that our protocol could produce a CZ gate in < 10 μs with error probability on the order of 10-3.
The interaction of Cs adatoms with mono- or bi-layered graphene (MLG and BLG), either free-standing or on a SiO2 substrate, was investigated using density functional theory. The most stable adsorption sites for Cs are found to be hollow sites on both graphene sheets and graphene-veiled SiO2(0001). Larger dipole moments are created when a MLG-veiled SiO2(0001) substrate is used for adsorption of Cs atoms compared to the adsorption on free-standing MLG, due to charge transfer occurring between the MLG and the SiO2 substrate. For the adsorption of Cs on BLG-veiled SiO2(0001) substrate, these differences are smoothed out and the binding energies corresponding to different sites are nearly degenerate; smaller dipole moments created by the Cs adatoms on BLG compared to MLG are also predicted.
We demonstrate a dual-axis accelerometer and gyroscope atom interferometer, which can form the building blocks of a six-axis inertial measurement unit. By recapturing the atoms after the interferometer sequence, we maintain a large atom number at high data rates of 50 to 100 measurements per second. Two cold ensembles are formed in trap zones located a few centimeters apart and are launched toward one another. During their ballistic trajectory, they are interrogated with a stimulated Raman sequence, detected, and recaptured in the opposing trap zone. We achieve sensitivities at μg/Hz and (μrad/s)/Hz levels, making this a compelling prospect for expanding the use of atom interferometer inertial sensors beyond benign laboratory environments.
We have theoretically and experimentally investigated the possibility of single atom deposition using laser cooled sources. In our theoretical work, we investigated an atom source composed of out-coupling from a Bose-Einstein condensate in a trap. A model was developed for Bose- Einstein-condensate-based devices. To illustrate its application, a 2-well system is studied. The results show interesting and possibly useful differences between operation with coherent (phased-locked) and incoherent (unlocked) population transfer between levels in the two wells. The two modes of operation are governed by an interplay among scattering, energy renormalizations and coupling between wells. In parallel, we have experimentally investigated the possibility of controlled deposition of single cesium atoms onto surfaces using optical tweezers. We have measured the rate limit for translation of single atoms in optical tweezers to be 45 mm/s for stepped translation, and have constructed an apparatus for deposition of single atoms on a sapphire substrate for future work.