Control of atoms-light and nuclei-X-ray photons interactions in solids via quantum interference

本研究计划探讨掺杂稀土或过渡金属离子的光学晶体中的量子相干效应的物理学。这种离子在宿主材料的带隙中具有离散能级的原子状结构。它们通常被称为原子气体晶格或冷冻原子气体。它们的潜在优点是高原子密度，无原子扩散和碰撞，紧凑，可扩展性，鲁棒性和与光纤通信的兼容性。我们研究了基于这些材料的长寿命自旋相干性激发有效控制线性和非线性光学响应（如共振吸收、折射率、群速度、频率转换等）的可能性。就更广泛的影响而言，研究计划将原子和量子光学的基本概念扩展到固态物理学。对固体中量子相干现象的探索可以为各种应用开辟现实的前景，包括量子信息存储和处理、空间分辨率的提高、可控光延迟线、新型固体激光器的开发（特别是在传统上困难的紫外、甚紫外和x射线频率范围内）、有效的频率转换、最终短脉冲的产生、超灵敏磁强计、光谱学、计量学等。它为年轻的研究人员提供了在量子、相干、非线性和超快光学、光子学、固体和激光物理等先进领域进行理论和实验培训的绝佳机会。

This research program explores the physics of quantum coherence effects in optical crystals doped with rare-earth or transition metal ions. Such ions have atomic like structure of discrete energy levels in the band gap of the host materials. They are often refereed to as atomic gas lattices or frozen atomic gases. Their potential advantages are high atomic density, absence of atomic diffusion and collisions, compactness, scalability, robustness and compatibility with optical fiber communications. We study the possibilities of the efficient control of both linear and nonlinear optical responses (such as resonant absorption, refractive index, group velocity, frequency conversion, etc.) based on excitation of the long lived spin coherence in these materials.In terms of the broader impact the research program extends fundamental concepts of atomic and quantum optics to solid-state physics. The exploration of quantum coherence phenomena in solids may open realistic prospects for various applications, including quantum information storage and processing, improvement of spatial resolution, controllable optical delay lines, development of new solid-state lasers (in particular, in the traditionally difficult UV, VUV and X-ray frequency ranges), efficient frequency conversion, generation of ultimately short pulses, ultra-sensitive magnetometry, spectroscopy, metrology, and others. It provides excellent opportunities for young researchers to be trained both theoretically and experimentally in the advanced fields of quantum, coherent, nonlinear and ultrafast optics, photonics, solid-state and laser physics.