Fabrication method for microscopic vapor cells for alkali atoms

“…metamaterials and small MW circuits. The method can be improved by using better detectors and smaller vapor cells [27,28]. It may be possible to measure smaller MW electric fields, <10 nV cm −1 with <10 μm spatial resolution, determined by the Rydberg state lifetime.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Subwavelength microwave electric-field imaging using Rydberg atoms inside atomic vapor cells

et al. 2014

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We have recently shown that Alkali atoms contained in a vapor cell can serve as a highly accurate standard for microwave electric field strength as well as polarization using the principles of Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency. Here, we show, for the first time, that Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency can be used to image microwave electric fields with unprecedented precision. The spatial resolution of the method is far into the sub-wavelength regime. The electric field resolutions are similar to those we have demonstrated in our prior experiments. Our experimental results agree with finite element calculations of test electric field patterns.Atomic standards are important because they enable stable and uniform measurements and often link physical quantities to each other via universal constants [1]. We have demonstrated in our prior work that atoms contained in a vapor cell can be used for a practical and, in principle, portable microwave (MW) electric field standard using Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) [2, 3]. The accurate measurement of MW electric field strength and polarization can lead to advances in applications such as antenna design, device development, characterization of electro-magnetic interference, advanced radar applications and materials characterization [4-9], including metamaterials [10][11][12].To our knowledge, no other work exists on imaging MW electric fields with atoms in vapor cells. Even in the field of magnetometry, where vapor cell magnetometers have played a central part [13], absorption imaging for vapor cell MW magnetometry has only been recently reported [14, 15]. Many of the technical issues of imaging a MW magnetic field as opposed to an electric field with a vapor cell are different. Knowledge of both fields is important. Despite the rather straightforward connection between the electric and magnetic fields in free space, there is not always a simple relation between them in the near field. The absolute measurement of MW electric fields at sub-wavelength resolutions and in the near field is necessary for many MW applications.To meet the need for sub-wavelength imaging of MW electric fields, we demonstrate a scheme for subwavelength MW electrometry using Rydberg atom EIT [16, 17] in Cesium (Cs) atomic vapor cells at room temperature. In contrast to scanning probe technology [18, 19], our approach avoids cryogenics and eliminates the presence of conducting materials near the sample, therefore minimizing field disturbances. We achieve a 2-dimensional spatial resolution of ∼ λ MW /650, ∼ 66 µm at ∼ 6.9 GHz, using a test MW electric field in the form of a standing wave and image the MW electric field di- * Corresponding author: shaffer@nhn.ou.edu rectly above a co-planar waveguide (CPW) to demonstrate near field imaging. The electric field resolution is ∼ 50 µV cm −1 limited by our detection setup. The measurements are compatible with our prior work where we attained a minimum detectable electric field amplitude of ...

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“…(5)], e.g., may be relevant to implementations of a conditional π-phase shift between two (very) weak classical pulses across the interface [58]. Finally, our results for Rb atoms adapt to cold-atom photonic crystalfiber interfaces [59,60] or to solid interfaces [58,[61][62][63], to miniaturized (micrometer-sized) atomic vapor cells [31,64] or to crystals doped with rare-earth-metal ions [58] or with nitrogen-vacancy color centers [65] where similar three-level two-fold interaction configurations exist. …”

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confidence: 74%

Large Phase-by-Phase Modulations in Atomic Interfaces

Artoni

Zavatta

2015

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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Phase-resonant closed-loop optical transitions can be engineered to achieve broadly tunable light phase shifts. Such a novel phase-by-phase control mechanism does not require a cavity and is illustrated here for an atomic interface where a classical light pulse undergoes radian level phase modulations all-optically controllable over a few micron scale. It works even at low intensities and hence may be relevant to new applications of all-optical weak-light signal processing. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.113005 PACS numbers: 32.80.Qk, 42.50.Gy All refractive optics of macroscopic media, including basic tools such as lenses, work by applying spatially varying phase shifts of several radians to incoming light beams. The ability, on the other hand, to control phases and relative phases over the short length scales of microscopic media is a challenging task in optics and of obvious relevance to modern microscopy [1], information processing [2][3][4], and micro-and nanoscale optics [5,6]. In quantum systems, e.g., large and controllable optical phase shifts have long remained elusive and only recently appreciable shifts have been observed from atoms [7], molecules [8], trapped ions [9], and superconducting qubits [10]. It's even less obvious how to attain large and controllable optical shifts working at low-light levels or with the tiny optical powers of several or a few photons. This requires unpractical propagation distances, often overcome by using multipass high-finesse optical cavities [11], or strong enhancements of the weak photon-photon nonlinear interactions. Electromagnetically induced transparency, e.g., is commonly used in trapped atomic samples to enhance the weak Kerr effect responsible for the photonphoton interaction, namely, through a significant reduction of the photon's propagation speed. Within this context, multilevel atom configurations driven to attain large crossphase-modulation effects have been extensively studied [12][13][14][15][16] and over the years various demonstrations [17][18][19][20] of phase shifts, which may even reach the size of a radian [21][22][23], have been carried out yet at the price of fairly large light intensities. Conversely, this seems to confirm early predictions that large shifts through enhancement of Kerr nonlinearities at low-light levels or even down to the singlephoton level [24,25] are unlikely.Here we discuss a physical mechanism to achieve radianlevel shifts in the phase of an optical field across the tiny length scales of an atomic interface [26]. We show that the phase of a weak narrow band signal wave packet can be steered by easily changing the interface driving parameters or by means of another weak narrow band copropagating control wave packet. The signal phase may be preserved or set to acquire continuously variable shifts reaching π radians. This can be done all-optically over a few microns.The proposal is illustrated for classical coherent states and builds on ideas of resonant effects occurring in atomic transitions with a closed excitation loop,...

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Fabrication method for microscopic vapor cells for alkali atoms

Cited by 56 publications

References 14 publications

Chip-scale atomic devices

Chip-scale atomic devices

Subwavelength microwave electric-field imaging using Rydberg atoms inside atomic vapor cells

Large Phase-by-Phase Modulations in Atomic Interfaces

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