Trapped atoms near nanophotonics form an exciting platform for bottom-up synthesis of strongly interacting quantum matter. The ability to induce tunable long-range atom-atom interactions with photons presents an opportunity to explore many-body physics and quantum optics. Here we implement a configurable optical tweezer array over a planar photonic circuit tailored for cold atom integration and control for trapping and high-fidelity imaging of one or more atoms in an array directly on a photonic structure. Using an optical conveyor belt formed by a moving optical lattice within a tweezer potential, we show that single atoms can be transported from a reservoir into close proximity of a photonic interface, potentially allowing for the synthesis of a defect-free atom-nanophotonic hybrid lattice. Our experimental platform can be integrated with generic planar photonic waveguides and resonators, promising a pathway towards on-chip many-body quantum optics and applications in quantum technology.

We describe the design and fabrication of a scalable atom-light photonic interface based on a silicon nitride microring resonator on a transparent silicon dioxide-nitride multi-layer membrane. This new photonic platform is fully compatible with freespace cold atom laser cooling, stable trapping, and sorting at around 100 nm from the microring surface, permitting the formation of an organized, strongly interacting atom-photonic hybrid lattice. We demonstrate small radius (R ∼16µm) microring and racetrack resonators with a high quality factor Q = 3.2 × 10 5 , projecting a single atom cooperativity parameter of C = 25 and a vacuum Rabi frequency of 2g = 2π × 340 MHz for trapped cesium atoms interacting with a microring resonator mode. We show that the quality factor is currently limited by the surface roughness of the multi-layer membrane, grown using low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) processes. We discuss possible further improvements to a quality factor above Q > 5 × 10 6 , potentially achieving single atom cooperativity parameter of C > 500 for strong single atom-photon coupling. †

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Recently, a tunable bandwidth white light cavity (WLC) was demonstrated by using an anomalously dispersive intra-cavity medium to adjust a cavity linewidth without reducing the cavity buildup factor [G.S. Pati et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 133601 (2007)]. In this paper, we show theoretically how such a WLC can be used to realize a distortion-free delay system for a data pulse. The system consists of two WLCs placed in series. Once the pulse has passed through them, the fast-light media in both WLCs are deactivated, so that each of these now acts as a very high reflectivity mirror. The data pulse bounces around between these mirrors, undergoing negligible attenuation per pass. The trapped pulse can be released by activating the fast-light medium in either WLC. Numerical simulations show that such a system can far exceed the delay-bandwidth constraint encountered in a typical data buffer employing slow light. We also show that the pulse remains virtually undistorted during the process.

Previously, we proposed a data buffering system that makes use of a pair of white light cavities 1 . For application to telecommunication systems, it would be convenient to realize such a device using fiber optic resonators. In this paper, we present the design of such a system, where the white light cavity effect is produced by using stimulated Brillouin scattering. The system consists of a pair of fiber optic white light cavities placed in series. As in the original proposal, the delay time can be controlled independently of the bandwidth of the data pulses. Furthermore, we show how the bandwidth of the system can be made as large as several times the Brillouin frequency shift. We also show that the net delay achievable in such a buffer can be significantly larger than what can be achieved using a conventional recirculating loop buffer.

Photoassociation (PA) is a powerful technique to synthesize molecules directly and continuously from cold and ultracold atoms into deeply bound molecular states. In freespace, however, PA efficiency is constrained by the number of spontaneous decay channels linking the initial excited molecular state to a sea of final (meta)stable rovibronic levels. Here, we propose a novel scheme based on molecules strongly coupled to a guided photonic mode in a photonic crystal waveguide that turns PA into a powerful tool for near deterministic formation of ultracold molecules in their ground rovibrational level. Our example shows a potential ground state molecule production efficiency 90% > , and a saturation rate 10 6 > molecules per second. By combining state-of-the-art cold atomic and molecular physics with nanophotonic engineering, our scheme presents a novel experimental package for trapping, cooling, and optically manipulating ultracold molecules, thus opening up new possibilities in the direction of ultracold chemistry and quantum information.

We investigate the behavior of an ensemble of N non-interacting, identical atoms, excited by a laser. In general, the i-th atom sees a Rabi frequency Ω i , an initial position dependent laser phase φ i , and a motion induced Doppler shift of δ i . When Ω i or δ i is distinct for each atom, the system evolves into a superposition of 2 N intercoupled states, of which there are N + 1 symmetric and (2 N − (N + 1)) asymmetric collective states. For a collective state atomic interferometer (COSAIN) we recently proposed, it is important to understand the behavior of all the collective states under various conditions. In this paper, we show how to formulate the properties of these states under various non-idealities, and use this formulation to understand the dynamics thereof.We also consider the effect of treating the center of mass degree of freedom of the atoms quantum mechanically on the description of the collective states, illustrating that it is indeed possible to construct a generalized collective state, as needed for the COSAIN, when each atom is assumed to be in a localized wave packet. The analysis presented in this paper is important for understanding the dynamics of the COSAIN, and will help advance the analysis and optimization of spin squeezing in the presence of practically unavoidable non-idealities as well as in the domain where the center of mass motion of the atoms is quantized.

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