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Aishwarya Kumar

Publications and source records attributed to Aishwarya Kumar.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Disentangling propagation effects from Fast Radio Burst spectra: An analysis on simulated data

We present a methodology to decouple propagation effects, specifically scattering and dispersion, from the intrinsic spectro-temporal properties of repeating Fast Radio Bursts. Utilizing the Triggered Relativistic Dynamical Model, and assuming superradiance as the emission mechanism, we generate simulated sub-bursts and inject controlled levels of scattering and residual dispersion. For each burst, we measure the sub-burst slope, defined as the trajectory of the centroids in the dynamic spectrum, and the characteristic duration of the burst profile. We then fit a modified sub-burst slope law to the resulting slope-duration measurements to recover the scattering timescale, residual dispersion measure, and other model parameters. Under the thin-screen approximation, the scattering timescale at $1~\mathrm{GHz}$ is precisely recovered, typically to within $\sim 1-2\%$ of the true value. In contrast, the residual dispersion is recovered with comparatively lower precision, with median absolute errors of $\sim 0.3-0.6\ \mathrm{pc \, cm^{-3}}$, reflecting its weaker constraint and degeneracy with an intrinsic parameter. Despite this, the modified sub-burst slope law successfully reproduces the spectro-temporal evolution and accurately constrains the scattering properties even for diverse intrinsic burst populations. These results demonstrate that our framework yields a tractable method for separating propagation-induced distortions from intrinsic emission characteristics to a meaningful degree, enabling more reliable inference of the physical properties of FRB sources.

astro-ph.HE

A cavity array microscope for parallel single-atom interfacing

Neutral atom arrays and optical cavity QED systems have developed in parallel as central pillars of modern experimental quantum science. While each platform has demonstrated exceptional capabilities-such as high-fidelity quantum logic in atom arrays, and strong light-matter coupling in cavities-their combination holds promise for realizing fast and non-destructive atom measurement, building large-scale quantum networks, and engineering hybrid atom-photon Hamiltonians. However, to date, experiments integrating the two platforms have been limited to spatially interfacing the entire atom array with one global cavity mode, a configuration that constrains addressability, parallelism, and scalability. Here we introduce the cavity array microscope, an experimental platform where each individual atom is strongly coupled to its own individual cavity across a two-dimensional array of over 40 modes. Our approach requires no nanophotonic elements, and instead uses a new free-space cavity geometry with intra-cavity lenses to realize above-unity peak cooperativity with micron-scale mode waists and spacings, compatible with typical atom array length scales while keeping atoms far from dielectric surfaces. We achieve homogeneous atom-cavity coupling, and show fast, non-destructive, parallel readout on millisecond timescales, including through a fiber array as a proof-of-principle for networking applications. As an outlook, we realize a next-generation iteration of the platform with over 500 cavities and a nearly 10 times improvement in finesse. Our work unlocks the regime of many-cavity QED, and opens an unexplored frontier of large-scale quantum networking with atom arrays.

quant-ph

Impact of propagation effects on the spectro-temporal properties of Fast Radio Bursts

We present a mathematical analysis of propagation-induced distortions in the spectro-temporal properties of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Within the Triggered Relativistic Dynamical Model, we derive a centroid-based formulation of the sub-burst slope law, which is an inverse relation between frequency-drift rate and temporal width of sub-bursts. We extend our analysis to include two frequency-dependent propagation effects: (i) multipath scattering, characterized by a pulse-broadening timescale $\tau_\mathrm{sc} \propto \nu^{-4}$, and (ii) residual dispersion, parameterized by $\Delta \mathrm{DM}\propto \nu^{-2}$. Our analysis shows that scattering preserves the inverse relation between sub-burst slope and duration, but increases the scaling coefficient when $\tau_\mathrm{sc}$ exceeds the intrinsic width ($t_\mathrm{w}$) of sub-bursts. Residual DM errors act asymmetrically: under-dedispersion flattens the sub-burst slope, whereas over-dedispersion causes a non-linear increase and eventually a change of sign. When both effects are present, scattering counterbalances the steepening induced by over-dedispersion and augments the flattening produced by under-dedispersion, yielding characteristically distorted curves. We repeat measurements for ultra-short duration bursts (ultra-FRBs) with $t_\mathrm{w} = 50\ \mu\mathrm{s}$ at 1 GHz and found them to be far more sensitive to propagation errors. Deviations become measurable for $\left | \Delta \mathrm{DM} \right |\sim0.05$ pc cm$^{-3}$ and for $\tau_\mathrm{sc} \sim0.1$ ms at 1 GHz, levels that have negligible impact on the standard-width sub-bursts. Our analysis provides practical diagnostics to disentangle propagation effects from the observed spectro-temporal properties of FRBs, thereby recovering true correlations among their intrinsic parameters.

astro-ph.HE

Cavity QED in a High NA Resonator

From fundamental studies of light-matter interaction to applications in quantum networking and sensing, cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) provides a platform-crossing toolbox to control interactions between atoms and photons. The coherence of such interactions is determined by the product of the single-pass atomic absorption and the number of photon round-trips. Reducing the cavity loss has enabled resonators supporting nearly 1-million optical roundtrips at the expense of severely limited optical material choices and increased alignment sensitivity. The single-pass absorption probability can be increased through the use of near-concentric, fiber or nanophotonic cavities, which reduce the mode waists at the expense of constrained optical access and exposure to surface fields. Here we present a new high numerical-aperture, lens-based resonator that pushes the single-atom-single-photon absorption probability per round trip close to its fundamental limit by reducing the mode size at the atom below a micron while keeping the atom mm-to-cm away from all optics. This resonator provides strong light-matter coupling in a cavity where the light circulates only ~ 10 times. We load a single 87Rb atom into such a cavity, observe strong coupling, demonstrate cavity-enhanced atom detection with imaging fidelity of 99.55(6) percent and survival probability of 99.89(4) percent in 130 microseconds, and leverage this new platform for a time-resolved exploration of cavity cooling. The resonator's loss-resilience paves the way to coupling of atoms to nonlinear and adaptive optical elements and provides a minimally invasive route to readout of defect centers. Introduction of intra-cavity imaging systems will enable the creation of cavity arrays compatible with Rydberg atom array computing technologies, vastly expanding the applicability of the cavity QED toolbox.

physics.atom-ph

Validating the Sub-Burst Slope Law: A Comprehensive Multi-Source Spectro-Temporal Analysis of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts

We conduct a comprehensive spectro-temporal analysis of repeating Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) utilizing nine distinct sources, the largest sample to date. Our data set includes 175 sub-bursts and 31 multi-component bursts from 11 data sets, with centre frequencies ranging from 149--7144 MHz and durations spanning from 73 $\mu$s--13 ms. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of the Triggered Relativistic Dynamical Model (TRDM) of FRB emission. We affirm the predicted quadratic relationship between sub-burst slope and central frequency, as well as a linear dependence of the sub-burst bandwidth on central frequency that is consistent with mildly-relativistic Doppler broadening of narrow-band emission. Most importantly, we confirm the sub-burst slope law, a predicted inverse relationship between sub-burst slope and duration, to hold consistently across different sources. Remarkably, we also discover that the drift rates of multi-component bursts follow the same law as the sub-burst slopes, an unexplained result that warrants further investigation. These findings not only support the TRDM as a viable framework for explaining several aspects of FRB emission, but also provide new insights into the complex spectro-temporal properties of FRBs.

astro-ph.HE

A broad survey of spectro-temporal properties from FRB 20121102A

We survey the spectro-temporal properties of fast radio bursts from FRB 20121102A observed by earlier studies across a wide range of frequencies. We investigate 167 bursts from FRB 20121102A spanning frequencies 1--7.5GHz, durations of less than 1 ms to approximately 10 ms, with low and high energies, and with different wait-times. We find from this sample of bursts a strong agreement with the inverse relationship between sub-burst slope and duration and with other predictions made by the triggered relativistic dynamical model (TRDM). Earlier results found agreement with those predictions across three different repeating FRB sources. For this sample of bursts, we find that the sub-burst slope as well as the 'sad trombone' drift rate are consistent with being in a quadratic relationship with frequency and that both these quantities are inversely proportional to the duration. We also find that the duration decreases with increasing frequency as well as a statistically significant correlation between the sub-burst duration and bandwidth (proportional to $t^{-1/2}$) that is unexpected. No distinct group of bursts in this sample deviated from these relationships, however significant scatter can be seen in measurements. This study demonstrates the consistent existence of relationships between the spectro-temporal properties of bursts from a repeating FRB source. A simple explanation for the inverse relation between the sub-burst slope and duration is an inherently narrowband emission process. We make all measurements available as well as a graphical user interface called Frbgui developed and used to perform measurements of burst waterfalls.

astro-ph.HE

A Cavity Load Lock Apparatus for Next-Generation Quantum Optics Experiments

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), the study of the interaction between quantized emitters and photons confined in an optical cavity, is an important tool for quantum science in computing, networking, and synthetic matter. In atomic cavity QED, this approach typically relies upon an ultra-high vacuum chamber that hosts a cold trapped atomic ensemble and an optical cavity. Upgrading the cavity necessitates a months-long laborious process of removing external optics, venting, replacing the resonator, baking, and replacing optics, constituting a substantial bottleneck to innovation in resonator design. In this work, we demonstrate that the flexibility of optical cavities, and the quick turnaround time in switching between them, can be restored with the vacuum loadlock technique--reducing the cycle time to install a cavity, bake it, and transport it into the science chamber to days, achieving 3x10^(-10) Torr pressure in the science chamber. By reducing vacuum limitations, this approach is particularly powerful for labs interested in quickly exploring novel optic cavities, or any other atomic physics relying on in-vacuum optics.

quant-ph

Optical mode conversion via spatiotemporally modulated atomic susceptibility

Light is an excellent medium for both classical and quantum information transmission due to its speed, manipulability, and abundant degrees of freedom into which to encode information. Recently, space-division multiplexing has gained attention as a means to substantially increase the rate of information transfer by utilizing sets of infinite-dimensional propagation eigenmodes such as the Laguerre-Gaussian 'donut' modes. Encoding in these high-dimensional spaces necessitates devices capable of manipulating photonic degrees of freedom with high efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate controlling the optical susceptibility of an atomic sample can be used as powerful tool for manipulating the degrees of freedom of light that passes through the sample. Utilizing this tool, we demonstrate photonic mode conversion between two Laguerre-Gaussian modes of a twisted optical cavity with high efficiency. We spatiotemporally modulate the optical susceptibility of an atomic sample that sits at the cavity waist using an auxiliary Stark-shifting beam, in effect creating a mode-coupling optic that converts modes of orbital angular momentum $l=3\rightarrow l=0$. The internal conversion efficiency saturates near unity as a function of the atom number and modulation beam intensity, finding application in topological few-body state preparation, quantum communication, and potential development as a flexible tabletop device.

physics.atom-ph

Transient Structure in the Non-linear Superradiance Regime of Widely Doppler Broadened Media

We investigate transient radiation processes in the non-linear superradiance (SR) regime of the Doppler broadened Maxwell-Bloch equations when the velocity distribution is of total bandwidth greatly exceeding that of the transient process itself. We demonstrate the formation of global polarisation phase correlation and the quenching of temporal structure if a smooth distribution is inverted above the critical threshold required to enter the non-linear SR regime. We propose candidate stochastic velocity distributions capable of sustaining finite temporal structure in the non-linear emission process. We develop a novel algorithm for simulating the Doppler broadened Maxwell-Bloch equations which is $O(n)$ complex in the number of velocity channels $n$ whenever the emerging polarisation correlation is of moderate bandwidth, and we apply it to a stochastic velocity distribution in order to demonstrate sustained delay and duration of peak intensity in the widely Doppler broadened limit. We discuss the transverse inversion process and recognise an autoregulation mechanism on the number of molecules cooperatively participating in SR emission. This mechanism has the effect of limiting the temporal duration of the intensity pulse to a lower bound proportional to the length of the sample, which we confirm through simulation.

physics.optics

Quantum-limited millimeter wave to optical transduction

Long distance transmission of quantum information is a central ingredient of distributed quantum information processors for both computing and secure communication. Transmission between superconducting/solid-state quantum processors necessitates transduction of individual microwave photons to optical photons. Current approaches to transduction employ solid state links between electrical and optical domains, facing challenges from the thermal noise added by the strong classical pumps required for high conversion efficiency and bandwidth. Neutral atoms are an attractive alternative transducer: they couple strongly to optical photons in their ground states, and to microwave/millimeter-wave photons in their Rydberg states. Nonetheless, strong coupling of atoms to both types of photons, in a cryogenic environment to minimize thermal noise, has yet to be achieved. Here we demonstrate quantum-limited transduction of millimeter-wave (mmwave) photons into optical photons using cold $^{85}$Rb atoms as the transducer. We achieve this by coupling an ensemble of atoms simultaneously to a first-of-its-kind, optically accessible three-dimensional superconducting resonator, and a vibration suppressed optical cavity, in a cryogenic ($5$ K) environment. We measure an internal conversion efficiency of $58(11)\%$, a conversion bandwidth of $360(20)$ kHz and added thermal noise of $0.6$ photons, in agreement with a parameter-free theory. Extensions to this technique will allow near-unity efficiency transduction in both the mmwave and microwave regimes. More broadly, this state-of-the-art platform opens a new field of hybrid mmwave/optical quantum science, with prospects for operation deep in the strong coupling regime for efficient generation of metrologically or computationally useful entangled states and quantum simulation/computation with strong nonlocal interactions.

physics.atom-ph

Understanding and suppressing backscatter in optical resonators

Optical cavities have found widespread use in interfacing to quantum emitters. Concerns about backreflection and resulting loss, however, have largely prevented the placement of optics such as lenses or modulators within high-finesse cavities. In this work, we demonstrate a million-fold suppression of backreflections from lenses within a twisted optical cavity. We achieve this by quantitatively exploring backscatter in Fabry-Pérot resonators, separating the effect into three physical sectors: polarization, mode envelope and spatial mode profile. We describe the impact of each of these sectors, and demonstrate how to minimize backreflections within each. This culminates in measured effective reflectivities below the part-per-billion level for the fundamental mode. Additionally, we show that beams carrying orbital angular momentum experience up to $10^{4}$ times additional suppression, limited only by the density of states of other cavity modes. Applying these ideas to laser gyroscopes could strongly suppress lock-in, thereby improving sensitivity at low rotation rates.

physics.optics

State-selective EIT for quantum error correction in neutral atom quantum computers

We propose a way to measure the qubit state of an arbitrary sub-ensemble of atoms in an array without significantly disturbing the quantum information in the unmeasured atoms. The idea is to first site-selectively transfer atoms out of the qubit basis so that one of the two states at a time is put into an auxiliary state. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) light will then protect most states while detection light is scattered from atoms in the auxiliary state, which is made immune to the EIT protection by angular momentum selection rules and carefully chosen light polarization. The two states will be measured in turn, after which it is possible to recool and return the atoms to a qubit state. These measurements can be the basis of quantum error correction.

quant-ph

Stern-Gerlach detection of neutral atom qubits in a state dependent optical lattice

We demonstrate qubit state measurement for ~160 Cesium atoms in a 3D optical lattice based on coherent spatial splitting of the atoms' wavefunctions. The measurement fidelity is 0.9994, essentially independent of the number of qubits measured. The detection scheme is reminiscent of the Stern-Gerlach experiment, but carried out in light traps. The measurement causes no loss, which allows us to demonstrate re-initialization of the 3D qubit array after state measurement, including the replacement of an atom lost to a background gas collision.

physics.atom-ph

An omniscient Maxwell's demon

We demonstrate highly filled 3D arrays of neutral atoms by moving individual atoms in a 3D optical lattice. Starting from a randomly half-filled 5x5x5 optical lattice of Cesium atoms, a sorting algorithm calculates and implements a sequence of high fidelity targeted state flips and state dependent motion steps to fill a sub-lattice in real time. We achieve a filling fraction of ~97% and a perfect filling rate of 30%. With 89% of the atoms cooled to the 3D vibrational ground state, the sorting procedure reduces the configurational entropy by a factor of 8 and the total system entropy by a factor of 2.44. The sorting process is analogous to a Maxwell's demon.

physics.atom-ph

Universal gates based on targeted phase shifts in a 3D neutral atom array

Although the quality of quantum bits (qubits) and quantum gates has been steadily improving, the available quantity of qubits has increased quite slowly. To address this important issue in quantum computing, we have demonstrated arbitrary single qubit gates based on targeted phase shifts, an approach that can be applied to atom, ion or other atom-like systems. These gates are highly insensitive to addressing beam imperfections and have little crosstalk, allowing for a dramatic scaling up of qubit number. We have performed gates in series on 48 individually targeted sites in a 40% full $5\times 5\times 5$ 3D array created by an optical lattice. Using randomized benchmarking, we demonstrate an average gate fidelity of 0.9962(16), with an average crosstalk fidelity of 0.9979(2).

quant-ph

Coherent addressing of individual neutral atoms in a 3D optical lattice

We demonstrate arbitrary coherent addressing of individual neutral atoms in a $5\times 5\times 5$ array formed by an optical lattice. Addressing is accomplished using rapidly reconfigurable crossed laser beams to selectively ac Stark shift target atoms, so that only target atoms are resonant with state-changing microwaves. The effect of these targeted single qubit gates on the quantum information stored in non-targeted atoms is smaller than $3\times 10^{-3}$ in state fidelity. This is an important step along the path of converting the scalability promise of neutral atoms into reality.

quant-ph