Photonic MEMS Vacuum Trap For Cold Atoms

该项目旨在开发利用集成光子学捕获原子的全新方法，因此该项目正在寻求开拓全新的冷原子科学和技术方法。集成二极管激光器与光子腔和MEMS真空室将允许捕获和控制原子的光。这项工作得到了英国量子技术计划和皇家工程院的支持。用光捕获原子可以使原子冷却到低于微开尔文的温度，从而产生一组最精确的传感器，可用于计时，测量加速度，旋转或重力。被困的原子也可以形成量子比特，也被用来建造量子计算机。目前，这种传感器需要配备大功率激光器的大型真空室，以数百瓦的功率捕获原子进行操作。该项目旨在使用类似CD/DVD播放器的二极管激光器，结合MEMS真空系统中与原子集成的光学腔，使这些原子陷阱小型化，旨在减少尺寸，重量和功率，使这些传感器缩小到手机的大小，并由电池供电。

This project aims to develop completely new ways to trap atoms using integrated photonics so the project is looking to pioneer completely new science and technology approaches to cold atoms. Integrating diode laser with photonic cavities and MEMS vacuum chambers will allow the trapping and control of atoms by light. The work is supported by the UK Quantum Technology Programme and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Trapping atoms with light enables atoms to be cooled to below microKelvin temperatures resulting in the most accurate set of sensors that can be used for timing, measuring acceleration, rotation or gravity. Trapped atoms can also form qubits and are also being used to build quantum computers. Such sensors presently require large vacuum chambers with high power lasers to trap atoms with hundreds of Watts of power for operation. This project aims to miniaturize these atom traps using the diode lasers similar to CD/DVD players combined with optical cavities integrated with atoms in MEMS vacuum systems aiming to reduce the size, weight and power to allow these sensors to reduce to the size of a mobile phone and to be powered by batteries.