We study photonic circuits consisting of cold-atom ensembles coupled to light modes of optical nanofibres and long lengths of connecting or feedback fibres, such that the propagation time of light along these fibres is comparable to the timescale of the atomic dynamics. This provides a non-Markovian setting for quantum dynamics and feedback. The fibre-based platform enables implementation of a simple configuration for time-delayed quantum feedback where light emitted from the atoms propagates along a length of fibre and is reflected back towards the atoms by a fibre bragg grating (FBG). We will present the initial results of our experiments.
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are ideal tools for exploring analogies to other physical systems, including condensed matter systems, because of the easily tunable parameters. In the realm of condensed matter physics, BECs can be used to provide insight into the super fluid-Mott insulator transition, topological insulators, and other quantum Hall effects.
Intense, highly collimated sources of atoms have many potential applications. Bright beams will be important for competitive high flux and high resolution direct-write techniques in lithography, with the added advantage of parallel writing through laser manipulation. Intense sources will also be useful in other atom optic devices e.g. for loading atoms into hollow fiber waveguides. In atomic physics, many collision processes can only be measured with the sensitivity offered by such high flux sources. We report progress on the development of an intense, collimated beam of metastable helium atoms which improves the brightness generated by conventional nozzle discharge sources by several orders of magnitude. The system uses diode lasers to transversely collimate and then to longitudinally slow the atoms, using Zeeman tuning to compensate for the changing Doppler shift. The slowed, collimated beam is then compressed in a 2D magneto-optic trap before a final collimation stage, to achieve the required increase in intensity. Initial experiments using the helium source for some of the applications above are described.
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