RESUMEN
The laser system is the most complex component of a light-pulse atom interferometer (LPAI), controlling frequencies and intensities of multiple laser beams to configure quantum gravity and inertial sensors. Its main functions include cold-atom generation, state preparation, state-selective detection, and generating a coherent two-photon process for the light-pulse sequence. To achieve substantial miniaturization and ruggedization, we integrate key laser system functions onto a photonic integrated circuit. Our study focuses on a high-performance silicon photonic suppressed-carrier single-sideband (SC-SSB) modulator at 1560 nanometers, capable of dynamic frequency shifting within the LPAI. By independently controlling radio frequency (RF) channels, we achieve 30-decibel carrier suppression and unprecedented 47.8-decibel sideband suppression at peak conversion efficiency of -6.846 decibels (20.7%). We investigate imbalances in both amplitudes and phases between the RF signals. Using this modulator, we demonstrate cold-atom generation, state-selective detection, and atom interferometer fringes to estimate gravitational acceleration, g ≈ 9.77 ± 0.01 meters per second squared, in a rubidium (87Rb) atom system.
RESUMEN
The extreme miniaturization of a cold-atom interferometer accelerometer requires the development of novel technologies and architectures for the interferometer subsystems. Here, we describe several component technologies and a laser system architecture to enable a path to such miniaturization. We developed a custom, compact titanium vacuum package containing a microfabricated grating chip for a tetrahedral grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) using a single cooling beam. In addition, we designed a multi-channel photonic-integrated-circuit-compatible laser system implemented with a single seed laser and single sideband modulators in a time-multiplexed manner, reducing the number of optical channels connected to the sensor head. In a compact sensor head containing the vacuum package, sub-Doppler cooling in the GMOT produces 15 µK temperatures, and the GMOT can operate at a 20 Hz data rate. We validated the atomic coherence with Ramsey interferometry using microwave spectroscopy, then demonstrated a light-pulse atom interferometer in a gravimeter configuration for a 10 Hz measurement data rate and T = 0-4.5 ms interrogation time, resulting in Δg/g = 2.0 × 10-6. This work represents a significant step towards deployable cold-atom inertial sensors under large amplitude motional dynamics.
RESUMEN
Plasmonic/metamaterial sensors are being investigated for their high sensitivity, fast response time, and high accuracy. We propose, characterize and experimentally realize subwavelength bilayer metamaterial sensors operating in the near-infrared domain. We measure the figure-of-merit (FOM) and the bulk sensitivity (S) of the two fundamental hybridized modes and demonstrate both numerically and experimentally that the magnetic dipolar mode, degenerate with the electric quadrupolar mode, has higher sensitivity to a variation of the refractive index compared to the electric dipolar mode. In addition, the hybridized system exhibits a four fold increase in the FOM compared to a standard dipolar plasmonic system.
RESUMEN
In 1929, only three years after the advent of quantum mechanics, von Neumann and Wigner showed that Schrödinger's equation can have bound states above the continuum threshold. These peculiar states, called bound states in the continuum (BICs), manifest themselves as resonances that do not decay. For several decades afterwards the idea lay dormant, regarded primarily as a mathematical curiosity. In 1977, Herrick and Stillinger revived interest in BICs when they suggested that BICs could be observed in semiconductor superlattices. BICs arise naturally from Feshbach's quantum mechanical theory of resonances, as explained by Friedrich and Wintgen, and are thus more physical than initially realized. Recently, it was realized that BICs are intrinsically a wave phenomenon and are thus not restricted to the realm of quantum mechanics. They have since been shown to occur in many different fields of wave physics including acoustics, microwaves and nanophotonics. However, experimental observations of BICs have been limited to passive systems and the realization of BIC lasers has remained elusive. Here we report, at room temperature, lasing action from an optically pumped BIC cavity. Our results show that the lasing wavelength of the fabricated BIC cavities, each made of an array of cylindrical nanoresonators suspended in air, scales with the radii of the nanoresonators according to the theoretical prediction for the BIC mode. Moreover, lasing action from the designed BIC cavity persists even after scaling down the array to as few as 8-by-8 nanoresonators. BIC lasers open up new avenues in the study of light-matter interaction because they are intrinsically connected to topological charges and represent natural vector beam sources (that is, there are several possible beam shapes), which are highly sought after in the fields of optical trapping, biological sensing and quantum information.
RESUMEN
Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the dipolar plasmonic resonance of a single metallic nanoparticle inserted in the core of a dielectric waveguide can be excited with higher order photonic modes of the waveguide only if their symmetry is compatible with the charge distribution of the plasmonic mode. For the case of a symmetric waveguide, we demonstrate that this condition is only achieved if the particle is shifted from the center of the core. The simple and comprehensive analysis presented in this contribution will serve as basis for applications in integrated nanophotonic/metamaterials devices, such as optical filters, modulators and mode converters.