Non-classical light generated by quantum-noise-driven cavity optomechanics.

Optomechanical systems, in which light drives and is affected by the motion of a massive object, will comprise a new framework for nonlinear quantum optics, with applications ranging from the storage and transduction of quantum information to enhanced detection sensitivity in gravitational wave detectors. However, quantum optical effects in optomechanical systems have remained obscure, because their detection requires the object's motion to be dominated by vacuum fluctuations in the optical radiation pressure; so far, direct observations have been stymied by technical and thermal noise. Here we report an implementation of cavity optomechanics using ultracold atoms in which the collective atomic motion is dominantly driven by quantum fluctuations in radiation pressure. The back-action of this motion onto the cavity light field produces ponderomotive squeezing. We detect this quantum phenomenon by measuring sub-shot-noise optical squeezing. Furthermore, the system acts as a low-power, high-gain, nonlinear parametric amplifier for optical fluctuations, demonstrating a gain of 20 dB with a pump corresponding to an average of only seven intracavity photons. These findings may pave the way for low-power quantum optical devices, surpassing quantum limits on position and force sensing, and the control and measurement of motion in quantum gases.

Optical readout of the quantum collective motion of an array of atomic ensembles.

We create an ultracold-atom-based cavity optomechanical system in which the center-of-mass modes of motion of as many as six distinguishable atomic ensembles are prepared and optically detected near their ground states. We demonstrate that the collective motional state of one atomic ensemble can be selectively addressed while preserving neighboring ensembles near their ground states to better than 95% per excitation quantum. We also show that our system offers nanometer-scale spatial resolution of each atomic ensemble via optomechanical imaging. This technique enables the in situ parallel sensing of potential landscapes, a capability relevant to active research areas of atomic physics and force-field detection in optomechanics.

Optical detection of the quantization of collective atomic motion.

We directly measure the quantized collective motion of a gas of thousands of ultracold atoms, coupled to light in a high-finesse optical cavity. We detect strong asymmetries, as high as 3:1, in the intensity of light scattered into low- and high-energy motional sidebands. Owing to high cavity-atom cooperativity, the optical output of the cavity contains a spectroscopic record of the energy exchanged between light and motion, directly quantifying the heat deposited by a quantum position measurement's backaction. Such backaction selectively causes the phonon occupation of the observed collective modes to increase with the measurement rate. These results, in addition to providing a method for calibrating the motion of low-occupation mechanical systems, offer new possibilities for investigating collective modes of degenerate gases and for diagnosing optomechanical measurement backaction.

Formation and dynamics of van der Waals molecules in buffer-gas traps.

We show that weakly bound He-containing van der Waals molecules can be produced and magnetically trapped in buffer-gas cooling experiments, and provide a general model for the formation and dynamics of these molecules. Our analysis shows that, at typical experimental parameters, thermodynamics favors the formation of van der Waals complexes composed of a helium atom bound to most open-shell atoms and molecules, and that complex formation occurs quickly enough to ensure chemical equilibrium. For molecular pairs composed of a He atom and an S-state atom, the molecular spin is stable during formation, dissociation, and collisions, and thus these molecules can be magnetically trapped. Collisional spin relaxation is too slow to affect trap lifetimes. However, (3)He-containing complexes can change spin due to adiabatic crossings between trapped and untrapped Zeeman states, mediated by the anisotropic hyperfine interaction, causing trap loss. We provide a detailed model for Ag(3)He molecules, using ab initio calculation of Ag-He interaction potentials and spin interactions, quantum scattering theory, and direct Monte Carlo simulations to describe formation and spin relaxation in this system. The calculated rate of spin-change agrees quantitatively with experimental observations, providing indirect evidence for molecular formation in buffer-gas-cooled magnetic traps. Finally, we discuss the possibilities for spectroscopic detection of these complexes, including a calculation of expected spectra for Ag(3)He, and report on our spectroscopic search for Ag(3)He, which produced a null result.

Quantum metrology. Optically measuring force near the standard quantum limit.

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle sets a lower bound on the noise in a force measurement based on continuously detecting a mechanical oscillator's position. This bound, the standard quantum limit, can be reached when the oscillator subjected to the force is unperturbed by its environment and when measurement imprecision from photon shot noise is balanced against disturbance from measurement back-action. We applied an external force to the center-of-mass motion of an ultracold atom cloud in a high-finesse optical cavity and measured the resulting motion optically. When the driving force is resonant with the cloud's oscillation frequency, we achieve a sensitivity that is a factor of 4 above the standard quantum limit and consistent with theoretical predictions given the atoms' residual thermal disturbance and the photodetection quantum efficiency.

Magnetic trapping of silver and copper, and anomalous spin relaxation in the ag-he system.

We have trapped large numbers of copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) atoms using buffer-gas cooling. Up to 3 x 10{12} Cu atoms and 4 x 10{13} Ag atoms are trapped. Lifetimes are as long as 5 s, limited by collisions with the buffer gas. Ratios of elastic to inelastic collision rates with He are >or=10{6}, suggesting Cu and Ag are favorable for use in ultracold applications. The temperature dependence of the Ag-3He collision rate varies as T;{5.8+/-0.4}. We find that this temperature dependence is inconsistent with the behavior predicted for relaxation arising from the spin-rotation interaction, and conclude that the Ag-3He system displays anomalous collisional behavior in the multiple-partial wave regime. Gold (Au) was ablated into 3He buffer gas, however, atomic Au lifetimes were observed to be too short to permit trapping.