Submerged-Shell Atoms Trapped in Noble Gas Solids for Quantum Information and Measurement

捕获在稀有气体固体中的水下壳原子用于量子信息和测量

• 批准号: 2310394
• 负责人: Colin Parker
• 金额: $ 39.29万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310394&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Submerged; Shell; Atoms; Trapped; Noble

This project will perform optical and infrared spectroscopy of neutral thulium atoms trapped in solidified noble gases, which are chemically inert solids sometimes called cryocrystals. The trapped thulium atoms may be excited with a laser, which allows transition frequencies between the atomic energy levels to be measured. Thulium is chosen because of its unusual electron configuration, which contains valence electrons in the f-shell near the nucleus. Unlike other species whose energy levels are substantially broadened when trapped in a cryocrystal, thulium energy levels are split into resolvable components. This project will employ a new set of spectroscopy techniques to uncover the complete energy level diagram for thulium atoms trapped in solid argon and neon, which paves the way for using their unique properties as probes of the local environment at nanometer scale, or as entangled elements in a quantum device. The project has great potential for broader impacts to quantum information science and measurement, and will contribute to education of students in surface science, cryogenics, optics, and atomic physics.This project is motivated in particular from recent observations that the magnetic dipole transition between f shells at 1140 nm can be as narrow as 1.5 GHz, even when averaged over a population. Furthermore, there is no indication of population inhomogeneity at the GHz scale, suggesting that with further cooling, MHz linewidths might be obtained. This is significantly narrower than, for example, the inhomogeneity in diamond NV centers, which supports the notion, seen in gas phase spectroscopy, that submerged f shells interact much less with the surrounding environment than s or p levels. This suggests a novel platform for quantum information and measurement, where frequency resolution permits detailed optical pumping schemes, even as atoms are held in place at the sub-nanometer scale, co-located with measurement targets, and/or directly integrated into quantum hardware via a universally compatible process requiring a single step: condensing noble gas solids with co-deposition of thulium. In particular, the high density combined with homogeneity are promising for quantum information applications and for observing coherent effects such as superradiance. To investigate these possibilities, a series of experiments will be performed to determine the low-temperature linewidth of thulium in solid argon and neon hosts, to resolve ground state substructure coming from crystal field splitting, to increase the maximum photon cycling rate, and to attempt to sense the environment near a glass substrate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将对凝固惰性气体中捕获的中性铥原子进行光学和红外光谱分析，这些惰性气体是化学惰性固体，有时称为低温晶体。捕获的铥原子可以用激光激发，从而可以测量原子能级之间的跃迁频率。选择铥是因为其不寻常的电子构型，其在原子核附近的 f 壳层中含有价电子。与其他物质不同，当被困在低温晶体中时，其能级会大大拓宽，铥的能级被分成可解析的成分。该项目将采用一套新的光谱技术来揭示被困在固态氩和氖中的铥原子的完整能级图，这为利用它们独特的性质作为纳米尺度局部环境的探针或作为纠缠元素铺平了道路在量子设备中。该项目对量子信息科学和测量具有更广泛影响的巨大潜力，并将有助于表面科学、低温学、光学和原子物理方面学生的教育。该项目的动机特别是最近的观察结果，即 f 之间的磁偶极子跃迁。即使在总体上进行平均，1140 nm 的贝壳也可以窄至 1.5 GHz。此外，没有迹象表明 GHz 尺度上存在群体不均匀性，这表明通过进一步冷却，可能会获得 MHz 线宽。例如，这比金刚石 NV 中心的不均匀性要窄得多，这支持了气相光谱中看到的概念，即水下 f 壳与周围环境的相互作用比 s 或 p 能级少得多。这提出了一种用于量子信息和测量的新颖平台，其中频率分辨率允许详细的光泵浦方案，即使原子在亚纳米尺度上固定在适当的位置，与测量目标位于同一位置，和/或通过直接集成到量子硬件中一种普遍兼容的工艺，只需一个步骤：冷凝稀有气体固体并共沉积铥。特别是，高密度与均匀性相结合对于量子信息应用和观察超辐射等相干效应很有希望。为了研究这些可能性，将进行一系列实验来确定固态氩和氖主体中铥的低温线宽，解决来自晶体场分裂的基态子结构，增加最大光子循环速率，并尝试感知玻璃基板附近的环境。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

High resolution spectroscopy of thulium atoms implanted in solid noble gas crystals

植入固体惰性气体晶体中的铥原子的高分辨率光谱

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.108.214101
• 发表时间: 2023-12
• 期刊: Physical Review B
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Gaire, Vinod;Do, Mi Y.;Pei, Yiting;Semenova, Anthony;Parker, Colin V.
• 通讯作者: Parker, Colin V.