Laser cooling atoms to indistinguishability: Atomic Hong-Ou-Mandel interference and entanglement through spin exchange
Author | |
Abstract |
<p>In this thesis, I describe the development of and scientific results from a new platform for\ <span style="line-height: 1.6em;">creating ultracold atoms via single-atom control. We employ Raman-sideband cooling to isolated\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">bosonic <sup>87</sup>Rb atoms confined within sub-micron optical tweezers, yielding single particle three dimensional\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">ground-state fractions of 90\%. We create multiple, independent, mobile optical tweezers,\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">which simultaneously allows multi-particle studies with single-atom microscopy and highly\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">tunable length-scales. We employ this toolset in both of the main experiments discussed in this\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">thesis. In one experiment, we observe Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of two bosonic atoms, each of\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">which is independently prepared in spatially separated optical tweezers. The interference we observe\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">is a direct consequence of the purity of the single particle quantum states produced, and the\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">indistinguishability of the atoms. In a second experiment, we introduce a spin-degree of freedom\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">and exploit spin-exchange dynamics, driven by the quantum-statistics of the particles, to create a\ </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">spin-entangled pair of spatially separated atoms</span></p>
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Year of Publication |
2015
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Degree |
Ph.D.
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Number of Pages |
266
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Date Published |
11-2015
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University |
University of Colorado Boulder
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City |
Boulder, CO
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JILA PI Advisors | |
Publication Status |