arXiv subjects

A. Ben-Kish

Publications and source records attributed to A. Ben-Kish.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2010

Isotropic magnetometry with simultaneous excitation of orientation and alignment CPT resonances

Atomic magnetometers have very high absolute precision and sensitivity to magnetic fields but suffer from a fundamental problem: the vectorial or tensorial interaction of light with atoms leads to "dead zones", certain orientations of magnetic field where the magnetometer loses its sensitivity. We demonstrate a simple polarization modulation scheme that simultaneously creates coherent population trapping (CPT) in orientation and alignment, thereby eliminating dead zones. Using $^{87}$Rb in a 10 Torr buffer gas cell we measure narrow, high-contrast CPT transparency peaks in all orientations and also show absence of systematic effects associated with non-linear Zeeman splitting.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2007

Measurement of Dicke Narrowing in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

Dicke narrowing is a phenomena that dramatically reduces the Doppler width of spectral lines, due to frequent velocity-changing collisions. A similar phenomena occurs for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances, and facilitates ultra-narrow spectral features in room-temperature vapor. We directly measure the Dicke-like narrowing by studying EIT line-shapes as a function of the angle between the pump and the probe beams. The measurements are in good agreement with an analytic theory with no fit parameters. The results show that Dicke narrowing can increase substantially the tolerance of hot-vapor EIT to angular deviations. We demonstrate the importance of this effect for applications such as imaging and spatial solitons using a single-shot imaging experiment, and discuss the implications on the feasibility of storing images in atomic vapor.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Theory of Dicke narrowing in coherent population trapping

The Doppler effect is one of the dominant broadening mechanisms in thermal vapor spectroscopy. For two-photon transitions one would naively expect the Doppler effect to cause a residual broadening, proportional to the wave-vector difference. In coherent population trapping (CPT), which is a narrow-band phenomenon, such broadening was not observed experimentally. This has been commonly attributed to frequent velocity-changing collisions, known to narrow Doppler-broadened one-photon absorption lines (Dicke narrowing). Here we show theoretically that such a narrowing mechanism indeed exists for CPT resonances. The narrowing factor is the ratio between the atom's mean free path and the wavelength associated with the wave-vector difference of the two radiation fields. A possible experiment to verify the theory is suggested.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Quantum control, quantum information processing, and quantum-limited metrology with trapped ions

We briefly discuss recent experiments on quantum information processing using trapped ions at NIST. A central theme of this work has been to increase our capabilities in terms of quantum computing protocols, but we have also applied the same concepts to improved metrology, particularly in the area of frequency standards and atomic clocks. Such work may eventually shed light on more fundamental issues, such as the quantum measurement problem.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Long-lived qubit memory using atomic ions

We demonstrate experimentally a robust quantum memory using a magnetic-field-independent hyperfine transition in 9Be+ atomic ion qubits at a magnetic field B ~= 0.01194 T. We observe that the single physical qubit memory coherence time is greater than 10 seconds, an improvement of approximately five orders of magnitude from previous experiments with 9Be+. We also observe long coherence times of decoherence-free subspace logical qubits comprising two entangled physical qubits and discuss the merits of each type of qubit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Hyperfine Coherence in the Presence of Spontaneous Photon Scattering

The coherence of a hyperfine-state superposition of a trapped $^{9}$Be$^+$ ion in the presence of off-resonant light is experimentally studied. It is shown that Rayleigh elastic scattering of photons that does not change state populations also does not affect coherence. Coherence times exceeding the average scattering time of 19 photons are observed. This result implies that, with sufficient control over its parameters, laser light can be used to manipulate hyperfine-state superpositions with very little decoherence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator: Experimental Application to Nonlinear Interferometers

We show how an experimentally realized set of operations on a single trapped ion is sufficient to simulate a wide class of Hamiltonians of a spin-1/2 particle in an external potential. This system is also able to simulate other physical dynamics. As a demonstration, we simulate the action of an $n$-th order nonlinear optical beamsplitter. Two of these beamsplitters can be used to construct an interferometer sensitive to phase shifts in one of the interferometer beam paths. The sensitivity in determining these phase shifts increases linearly with $n$, and the simulation demonstrates that the use of nonlinear beamsplitters ($n$=2,3) enhances this sensitivity compared to the standard quantum limit imposed by a linear beamsplitter ($n$=1).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Experimental demonstration of a controlled-NOT wave-packet gate

We report the experimental demonstration of a controlled-NOT (CNOT) quantum logic gate between motional and internal state qubits of a single ion where, as opposed to previously demonstrated gates, the conditional dynamics depends on the extent of the ion's wave-packet. Advantages of this CNOT gate over one demonstrated previously are its immunity from Stark shifts due to off-resonant couplings and the fact that an auxiliary internal level is not required. We characterize the gate logic through measurements of the post-gate ion state populations for both logic basis and superposition input states, and we demonstrate the gate coherence via an interferometric measurement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Experimental demonstration of a technique to generate arbitrary quantum superposition states

Using a single, harmonically trapped $^9$Be$^+$ ion, we experimentally demonstrate a technique for generation of arbitrary states of a two-level particle confined by a harmonic potential. Rather than engineering a single Hamiltonian that evolves the system to a desired final sate, we implement a technique that applies a sequence of simple operations to synthesize the state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Transport of Quantum States and Separation of Ions in a Dual RF Ion Trap

We have investigated ion dynamics associated with a dual linear ion trap where ions can be stored in and moved between two distinct locations. Such a trap is a building block for a system to engineer arbitrary quantum states of ion ensembles. Specifically, this trap is the unit cell in a strategy for scalable quantum computing using a series of interconnected ion traps. We have transferred an ion between trap locations 1.2 mm apart in 50 $μ$s with near unit efficiency ($> 10^{6}$ consecutive transfers) and negligible motional heating, while maintaining internal-state coherence. In addition, we have separated two ions held in a common trap into two distinct traps.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Recent Results in Trapped-Ion Quantum Computing

We review recent experiments on entanglement, Bell's inequality, and decoherence-free subspaces in a quantum register of trapped \be ions. We have demonstrated entanglement of up to four ions using the technique of Mølmer and Sørensen. This method produces the state |down down> + |up up> for two ions and the state |down down down down> + |up up up up> for four ions. We generate the entanglement deterministically in each shot of the experiment. Measurements on the two-ion entangled state violates Bell's inequality at the $8σ$ level. Because of the high detector efficiency of our apparatus, this experiment closes the detector loophole for Bell's inequality measurements for the first time. This measurement is also the first violation of Bell's inequality by massive particles that does not implicitly assume results from quantum mechanics. Finally, we have demonstrated reversible encoding of an arbitrary qubit, originally contained in one ion, into a decoherence-free subspace (DFS) of two ions. The DFS-encoded qubit resists applied collective dephasing noise and retains coherence under ambient conditions 3.6 times longer than does an unencoded qubit. The encoding method, which uses single-ion gates and the two-ion entangling gate, demonstrates all the elements required for two-qubit universal quantum logic.

quant-ph↗