Stationary light pulses in cold atoms at large optical depth

光与量子系统之间的相干相互作用吸引了越来越多的科学兴趣在光学物理学。电磁感应透明（EIT）是这种相互作用的一个突出例子。最近，提出了EIT以实现静止光脉冲（SLP），即捕获在“全光学”腔中的光。SLP允许在量子信息处理和相关领域中的应用，例如制备纠缠光子、极化激元的BEC、量子界面或光子的“晶体”，即由光构成的强相关系统。SLP需要原子介质在大的光学深度。最近的技术尝试是基于将（冷）原子加载到空芯光纤内的光学陷阱中。然而，该技术仍然受到小的装载效率和加热的影响。提出了一种改进的装置，即冷原子从非球形磁光阱转移到空芯光纤中。该装置将提供非常大的光学深度，而不加热原子。该提案涉及（i）实现新的设置，以提供冷原子在大的光学深度，（ii）制备和研究的SLP，（iii）应用SLP提供光子的“晶体”，以及（iv）相关的调查。因此，该项目旨在将冷物质领域的新兴技术与量子光学的新概念相结合。

Coherent interactions between light and quantum systems attracted increasing scientific interest in optical physics. Electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) exhibits a prominent example for such interactions. Recently, EIT was proposed to enable stationary light pulses (SLPs), i.e. light trapped in an “all-optical” cavity. SLPs permit applications in quantum information processing and related areas, e.g. to prepare entangled photons, BECs of polaritons, quantum interfaces, or “crystals” of photons, i.e. strongly correlated systems made of light. SLPs require atomic media at large optical depth. A recent technological attempt is based on loading of (cold) atoms into an optical trap inside a hollow-core fiber. However, the technology still suffers from small loading efficiencies and heating. The author proposes a modified setup, i.e. transfer of cold atoms from a non-spherical magneto-optical trap into the hollow-core fiber. The setup will provide very large optical depth, without heating of the atoms. This proposal deals with (i) implementation of the novel setup to provide cold atoms at large optical depth, (ii) preparation and investigation of SLPs, (iii) application of SLPs to provide a “crystal” of photons, and (iv) related investigations. Thus, the project aims at a combination of emerging technologies from the field of cold matter and novel concepts of quantum optics.