Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of atoms in a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre

Shoichi Okaba; Tetsushi Takano; Fetah Benabid; Tom Bradley; Luca Vincetti; Zakhar Maizelis; Valery Yampol'skii; Franco Nori; Hidetoshi Katori

doi:10.1038/ncomms5096

Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of atoms in a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre

Nat Commun. 2014 Jun 17:5:4096. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5096.

Authors

Shoichi Okaba¹, Tetsushi Takano¹, Fetah Benabid², Tom Bradley², Luca Vincetti³, Zakhar Maizelis⁴, Valery Yampol'skii⁴, Franco Nori⁵, Hidetoshi Katori⁶

Affiliations

¹ 1] Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan [2] Innovative Space-Time Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 7-3-1 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
² 1] GPPMM group, Xlim Research Institute, CNRS UMR7252, 123, Albert Thomas, Limoges 87060, France [2] Physics department, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
³ 1] GPPMM group, Xlim Research Institute, CNRS UMR7252, 123, Albert Thomas, Limoges 87060, France [2] Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari", University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena I-41125, Italy.
⁴ 1] A.Ya. Usikov Institute for Radiophysics and Electronics, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, 12 Acad. Proskura Str., Kharkov 61085, Ukraine [2] V.N. Karazin Kharkov National University, 4 Pl. Svobody, Kharkov 61077, Ukraine.
⁵ 1] CEMS, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan [2] Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1120, USA.
⁶ 1] Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan [2] Innovative Space-Time Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 7-3-1 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan [3] Quantum Metrology Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan [4] RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.

Abstract

Unlike photons, which are conveniently handled by mirrors and optical fibres without loss of coherence, atoms lose their coherence via atom-atom and atom-wall interactions. This decoherence of atoms deteriorates the performance of atomic clocks and magnetometers, and also hinders their miniaturization. Here we report a novel platform for precision spectroscopy. Ultracold strontium atoms inside a kagome-lattice hollow-core photonic crystal fibre are transversely confined by an optical lattice to prevent atoms from interacting with the fibre wall. By confining at most one atom in each lattice site, to avoid atom-atom interactions and Doppler effect, a 7.8-kHz-wide spectrum is observed for the (1)S0-(3)P1(m=0) transition. Atoms singly trapped in a magic lattice in hollow-core photonic crystal fibres improve the optical depth while preserving atomic coherence time.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't