Manipulating cold atoms through a high-resolution compact system based on a multimode fiber.

Area of Science:

• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Quantum Technologies
• Nanophotonics

Background:

• Manipulating cold atoms typically requires complex optical setups with significant space and access.
• Existing methods for atom manipulation face limitations in resolution and miniaturization for constrained environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel, ultra-compact tool for high-resolution cold atom manipulation using standard optical fibers.
• To explore the potential of optical fibers for quantum technology platforms with limited optical access.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a standard multimode optical fiber as the primary manipulation tool.
• Employing spatial light modulators and digital optical phase conjugation to generate control beams at the fiber's in-vacuum end.
• Achieving atom manipulation without additional in-vacuum optics.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a high-resolution ($ \sim 1\;{\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}} $) manipulation capability with an ultra-compact transverse size (225 µm).
• Successfully optically transported cold atoms to the fiber end.
• Loaded cold atoms into optical microtraps and re-cooled them using optical molasses.

Conclusions:

• Standard optical fibers can serve as effective, high-resolution tools for cold atom manipulation in space-constrained setups.
• This approach offers new perspectives for integrating cold atoms with other systems in quantum technology.
• Advances in optics for complex media enable novel, miniaturized quantum platforms.