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Updated: May 7, 2025

Generation and Coherent Control of Pulsed Quantum Frequency Combs
Published on: June 8, 2018
An integrated photonic engine for programmable atomic control
Ian Christen1, Thomas Propson2, Madison Sutula2
1Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. ichr@mit.edu.
Abstract:
Solutions for scalable, high-performance optical control are important for the development of scaled atom-based quantum technologies. Modulation of many individual optical beams is central to applying arbitrary gate and control sequences on arrays of atoms or atom-like systems. At telecom wavelengths, miniaturization of optical components via photonic integration has pushed the scale and performance of classical and quantum optics far beyond the limitations of bulk devices. However, material platforms for high-speed telecom integrated photonics lack transparency at the short wavelengths required by leading atomic systems. Here, we propose and implement a scalable and reconfigurable photonic control architecture using integrated, visible-light modulators based on thin-film lithium niobate. We combine this system with techniques in free-space optics and holography to demonstrate multi-channel, gigahertz-rate visible beamshaping. When applied to silicon-vacancy artificial atoms, our system enables the spatial and spectral addressing of a dynamically-selectable set of these stochastically-positioned point emitters.
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