Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors

Alan Bregazzi; Paul Janin; Sean Dyer; James P. McGilligan; Oliver Burrow; Erling Riis; Deepak Uttamchandani; Ralf Bauer; Paul F. Griffin

doi:10.1364/OL.475353

Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors

Alan Bregazzi, Paul Janin, Sean Dyer, James P. McGilligan, Oliver Burrow, Erling Riis, Deepak Uttamchandani, Ralf Bauer, Paul F. Griffin

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Abstract

We demonstrate the integration of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) scanning mirrors as active elements for the local optical pumping of ultra-cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap. A pair of MEMS mirrors steer a focused resonant beam through a cloud of trapped atoms shelved in the F = 1 ground-state of ⁸⁷Rb for spatially selective fluorescence of the atom cloud. Two-dimensional control is demonstrated by forming geometrical patterns along the imaging axis of the cold atom ensemble. Such control of the atomic ensemble with a microfabricated mirror pair could find applications in single atom selection, local optical pumping, and arbitrary cloud shaping. This approach has significant potential for miniaturization and in creating portable control systems for quantum optic experiments.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	37-40
Number of pages	4
Journal	Optics Letters
Volume	48
Issue number	1
Early online date	16 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.475353
Publication status	Published - 16 Dec 2022

Funding

Acknowledgments. We thank Dr Aidan Arnold for stimulating conversations. A.B. was supported by a PhD studentship from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and P.J. was supported by a studentship from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Defence Science and Technology Laboratory; Royal Academy of Engineering (RF/202021/20/343, RF1516/15/8); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/S032606/1, EP/T001046/1). We thank Dr Aidan Arnold for stimulating conversations. A.B. was supported by a PhD studentship from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and P.J. was supported by a studentship from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

Keywords

MEMS
optical scanners
cold atoms
quantum optics
microfabrication

Access to Document

10.1364/OL.475353Licence: CC BY 4.0

Bregazzi-etal-OL-2022-Cold-atom-shaping-with-MEMS-scanning-mirrorsFinal published version, 3.02 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors",

abstract = "We demonstrate the integration of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) scanning mirrors as active elements for the local optical pumping of ultra-cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap. A pair of MEMS mirrors steer a focused resonant beam through a cloud of trapped atoms shelved in the F = 1 ground-state of 87Rb for spatially selective fluorescence of the atom cloud. Two-dimensional control is demonstrated by forming geometrical patterns along the imaging axis of the cold atom ensemble. Such control of the atomic ensemble with a microfabricated mirror pair could find applications in single atom selection, local optical pumping, and arbitrary cloud shaping. This approach has significant potential for miniaturization and in creating portable control systems for quantum optic experiments.",

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AU - Bregazzi, Alan

AU - Janin, Paul

AU - Dyer, Sean

AU - McGilligan, James P.

AU - Burrow, Oliver

AU - Riis, Erling

AU - Uttamchandani, Deepak

AU - Bauer, Ralf

AU - Griffin, Paul F.

PY - 2022/12/16

Y1 - 2022/12/16

N2 - We demonstrate the integration of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) scanning mirrors as active elements for the local optical pumping of ultra-cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap. A pair of MEMS mirrors steer a focused resonant beam through a cloud of trapped atoms shelved in the F = 1 ground-state of 87Rb for spatially selective fluorescence of the atom cloud. Two-dimensional control is demonstrated by forming geometrical patterns along the imaging axis of the cold atom ensemble. Such control of the atomic ensemble with a microfabricated mirror pair could find applications in single atom selection, local optical pumping, and arbitrary cloud shaping. This approach has significant potential for miniaturization and in creating portable control systems for quantum optic experiments.

AB - We demonstrate the integration of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) scanning mirrors as active elements for the local optical pumping of ultra-cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap. A pair of MEMS mirrors steer a focused resonant beam through a cloud of trapped atoms shelved in the F = 1 ground-state of 87Rb for spatially selective fluorescence of the atom cloud. Two-dimensional control is demonstrated by forming geometrical patterns along the imaging axis of the cold atom ensemble. Such control of the atomic ensemble with a microfabricated mirror pair could find applications in single atom selection, local optical pumping, and arbitrary cloud shaping. This approach has significant potential for miniaturization and in creating portable control systems for quantum optic experiments.

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KW - optical scanners

KW - cold atoms

KW - quantum optics

KW - microfabrication

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JF - Optics Letters

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Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors

Abstract

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Keywords

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Micro-fabricating chip-scale atomic platforms for quantum navigators

MEMS-enabled miniaturised multimodal microscopy through pulsed structured illumination

Enhanced heliostat-based energy generation for deployment across the developing world

Data for: "Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors"

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Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Micro-fabricating chip-scale atomic platforms for quantum navigators

MEMS-enabled miniaturised multimodal microscopy through pulsed structured illumination

Enhanced heliostat-based energy generation for deployment across the developing world

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Data for: "Cold-atom shaping with MEMS scanning mirrors"

Cite this