Few-Photon All-Optical Modulation in a Photonic Band-Gap Fiber

Venkataraman, Vivek; Saha, Kasturi; Londero, Pablo; Gaeta, Alexander L.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.193902

Cited by 67 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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confidence: 99%

“…The interaction of these highly confined fields with atomic vapors can allow the realization of optical nonlinearities at remarkably low power levels [3]. For example, TOF's surrounded by rubidium vapor, and PBGF's filled with rubidium vapor, have recently been used to demonstrate saturated absorption, two-photon absorption, and a variety of other nonlinear effects at nanowatt and even "few-photon" power levels [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].Unfortunately, the tendency of Rb to accumulate on silica surfaces [11] severely limits the performance of these devices. In the case of TOF's, Rb accumulation causes a drastic loss of transmission [12], while in PBGF's it can limit the penetration depth into the hollow-core to several cm's [10].…”

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Ultralow-power nonlinear optics using tapered optical fibers in metastable xenon

2013

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We demonstrate nanowatt-level saturated absorption using a sub-wavelength diameter tapered optical fiber (TOF) suspended in a gas of metastable xenon atoms. This ultralow-power nonlinearity is enabled by a small optical mode area propagating over a relatively long distance through the Xe gas. The use of inert noble gasses in these kinds of TOF experiments may offer practical advantages over the use of reactive alkali vapors such as rubidium.PACS numbers: 42.81.Qb, 42.62.Fi,42.50.Gy Sub-wavelength diameter tapered optical fibers (TOF's) and small hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers (PBGF's) enable low-loss propagation of evanescent and air-guided modes with very small mode areas over very long distances [1,2]. The interaction of these highly confined fields with atomic vapors can allow the realization of optical nonlinearities at remarkably low power levels [3]. For example, TOF's surrounded by rubidium vapor, and PBGF's filled with rubidium vapor, have recently been used to demonstrate saturated absorption, two-photon absorption, and a variety of other nonlinear effects at nanowatt and even "few-photon" power levels [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].Unfortunately, the tendency of Rb to accumulate on silica surfaces [11] severely limits the performance of these devices. In the case of TOF's, Rb accumulation causes a drastic loss of transmission [12], while in PBGF's it can limit the penetration depth into the hollow-core to several cm's [10]. The observation of these difficulties suggests the use of inert noble gases, rather than reactive Rb vapor, to improve these systems. Here we specifically investigate the use of xenon in TOF experiments. We observe saturated absorption at nanowatt power levels, which indicates the suitability of this system for further ultralow-power nonlinear optics applications.An overview of one particular set of Xe energy levels for these applications is shown in Figure 1. A weak electric discharge is used to excite Xe to the 6s[3/2] 2 metastable state, which has a long intrinsic lifetime of ∼43 s [13]. This metastable state serves as an effective "ground state" for an optical ladder transition at 823 nm and 853 nm that can then be used for the various two-photon nonlinearities. The transition rates of these lines are 3 × 10 7 s −1 and 2 × 10 6 s −1 , respectively, which are comparable to those of the well-known 5S 1/2 → 5P 3/2 → 5D 5/2 ladder transition at 780 nm and 776 nm in Rb [14]. In principle, metastable state atomic densities of 10 13 cm −3 can be achieved in Xe [15], which would allow the high optical depths (OD's) desirable for many ultralow-power nonlinear optics applications.The purpose of this initial work was to perform saturation spectroscopy of the 823 nm transition using a TOF surrounded by a relatively low-density gas of metastable Xe atoms. The ability to saturate this transition at ultralow power levels is an indicator of the overall strength of the atom-field interaction in this system. Figure 2 shows a measured transmission spectrum of the 823 nm line obtained by passing a...

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Ultralow-power nonlinear optics using tapered optical fibers in metastable xenon

2013

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“…LIAD was also observed from the core of hollow photonic fibers, as reported in [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51], just to name a few.…”

Section: Liad In Other Dielectric Mediamentioning

confidence: 48%

Low Energy Atomic Photodesorption from Organic Coatings

et al. 2016

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Organic coatings have been widely used in atomic physics during the last 50 years because of their mechanical properties, allowing preservation of atomic spins after collisions. Nevertheless, this did not produce detailed insight into the characteristics of the coatings and their dynamical interaction with atomic vapors. This has changed since the 1990s, when their adsorption and desorption properties triggered a renewed interest in organic coatings. In particular, a novel class of phenomena produced by non-destructive light-induced desorption of atoms embedded in the coating surface was observed and later applied in different fields. Nowadays, low energy non-resonant atomic photodesorption from organic coatings can be considered an almost standard technique whenever large densities of atomic vapors or fast modulation of their concentration are required. In this paper, we review the steps that led to this widespread diffusion, from the preliminary observations to some of the most recent applications in fundamental and applied physics.

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“…In fact, there is an active area of research studying waveguides constructed via nanofabrication techniques, whose mode produces a large OD for a single atom Thompson et al (2013); Goban et al (2014Goban et al ( , 2015; Hood et al (2016). Important advances have happened, for example, with hollow-core fibers: encasing an atomic vapor into the hollow core of a photonic-crystal fiber to confine atoms and photons in the waveguide increases C, but the manipulation of the atoms is not as straightforward as if they are outside the photonic structure as in Ghosh et al (2006); Bajcsy et al (2009);Venkataraman et al (2011); Sprague et al (2014). Optical nanofibers (ONFs) formed by thinning single-mode optical fibers to sub-wavelength diameters, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Cooperativity and Optical Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Nanofibers

Solano

Grover

Hoffman

et al. 2017

Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

100

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The development of optical nanofibers (ONF) and the study and control of their optical properties when coupling atoms to their electromagnetic modes has opened new possibilities for their use in quantum optics and quantum information science. These ONFs offer tight optical mode confinement (less than the wavelength of light) and diffraction-free propagation. The small cross section of the transverse field allows probing of linear and non-linear spectroscopic features of atoms with exquisitely low power. The cooperativity -the figure of merit in many quantum optics and quantum information systems -tends to be large even for a single atom in the mode of an ONF, as it is proportional to the ratio of the atomic cross section to the electromagnetic mode cross section. ONFs offer a natural bus for information and for inter-atomic coupling through the tightly-confined modes, which opens the possibility of one-dimensional many-body physics and interesting quantum interconnection applications. The presence of the ONF modifies the vacuum field, affecting the spontaneous emission rates of atoms in its vicinity. The high gradients in the radial intensity naturally provide the potential for trapping atoms around the ONF, allowing the creation of onedimensional arrays of atoms. The same radial gradient in the transverse direction of the field is responsible for the existence of a large longitudinal component that introduces the possibility of spin-orbit coupling of the light and the atom, enabling the exploration of chiral quantum optics.

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Few-Photon All-Optical Modulation in a Photonic Band-Gap Fiber

Cited by 67 publications

References 25 publications

Ultralow-power nonlinear optics using tapered optical fibers in metastable xenon

Ultralow-power nonlinear optics using tapered optical fibers in metastable xenon

Low Energy Atomic Photodesorption from Organic Coatings

Optical Nanofibers

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