arXiv subjects

C. Genes

Publications and source records attributed to C. Genes.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Prospects of phase-adaptive cooling of levitated magnetic particles in a hollow-core photonic-crystal fibre

We analyze the feasibility of cooling of classical motion of a micro- to nano-sized magnetic particle, levitated inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The cooling action is implemented by means of controlling the relative phase between counter-propagating fiber guided waves. Direct imaging of the particle's position allows dynamic phase adjustments that produce a Stokes-type cooling force. We provide estimates of cooling efficiency and final achievable temperature, taking into account thermal and detection noise sources. Our results bring forward an important step towards using trapped micro-magnets in sensing, testing the fundamental physics and preparing the quantum states of magnetization.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Generalized energy gap law: An open system dynamics approach to non-adiabatic phenomena in molecules

Non-adiabatic molecular phenomena, arising from the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, govern the fate of virtually all photo-physical and photochemical processes and limit the quantum efficiency of molecules and other solid-state embedded quantum emitters. A simple and elegant description, the energy gap law, was derived five decades ago, predicting that the non-adiabatic coupling between the excited and ground potential landscapes lead to non-radiative decay with a quasi-exponential dependence on the energy gap. We revisit and extend this theory to account for crucial aspects such as vibrational relaxation, dephasing, and radiative loss. We find a closed analytical solution with general validity which indicates a direct proportionality of the non-radiative rate with the vibrational relaxation rate at low temperatures, and with the dephasing rate of the electronic transition at high temperatures. Our work establishes a connection between nanoscale quantum optics, open quantum system dynamics and non-adiabatic molecular physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Nonlinear opto-vibronics in molecular systems

We analytically tackle opto-vibronic interactions in molecular systems driven by either classical or quantum light fields. In particular, we examine a simple model of molecules with two relevant electronic levels, characterized by potential landscapes with different positions of minima along the internuclear coordinate and of varying curvatures. Such systems exhibit an electron-vibron interaction, which can be comprised of linear and quadratic terms in the vibrational displacement. By employing a combination of conditional displacement and squeezing operators, we present analytical expressions based on a quantum Langevin equations approach, to describe the emission and absorption spectra of such nonlinear molecular systems. Furthermore, we examine the imprint of the quadratic interactions onto the transmission properties of a cavity-molecule system within the collective strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Cooperative effects in dense cold atomic gases including magnetic dipole interactions

We theoretically investigate cooperative effects in cold atomic gases exhibiting both electric and magnetic dipole-dipole interactions, such as occurring for example in clouds of dysprosium atoms. We distinguish between the quantum degenerate case, where we take a many body physics approach and the quantum non-degenerate case, where we use the formalism of open system dynamics. For quantum non-degenerate gases, we illustrate the emergence of tailorable spin models in the high-excitation limit. In the low-excitation limit, we provide analytical and numerical results detailing the effect of magnetic interactions on the directionality of scattered light and characterize sub- and superradiant effects. For quantum degenerate gases, we study the interplay between sub- and superradiance effects and the fermionic or bosonic quantum statistics nature of the ensemble.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Phase synchronization in dissipative non-Hermitian coupled quantum systems

We study the interplay between non-Hermitian dynamics and phase synchronization in a system of $\mathcal{N}$ bosonic modes coupled to an auxiliary mode. The linearity of the evolution in such a system allows for the derivation of fully analytical results for synchronization conditions. In contrast, analysis at the level of phase dynamics, followed by a transformation to a collective basis allows a complete reduction to an all-to-all coupled Kuramoto model with known analytical solutions. We provide analytical and numerical solutions for systems ranging from a few modes to the macroscopic limit of large $\mathcal{N}$ in the presence of inhomogeneous frequency broadening and test the robustness of phase synchronization under the action of external noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

A realization of a quasi-random walk for atoms in time-dependent optical potentials

We consider the time dependent dynamics of an atom in a two-color pumped cavity, longitudinally through a side mirror and transversally via direct driving of the atomic dipole. The beating of the two driving frequencies leads to a time dependent effective optical potential that forces the atom into a non-trivial motion, strongly resembling a discrete random walk behavior between lattice sites. We provide both numerical and analytical analysis of such a quasi-random walk behavior.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Conductivity in organic semiconductors hybridized with the vacuum field

Organic semiconductors have generated considerable interest for their potential for creating inexpensive and flexible devices easily processed on a large scale [1-11]. However technological applications are currently limited by the low mobility of the charge carriers associated with the disorder in these materials [5-8]. Much effort over the past decades has therefore been focused on optimizing the organisation of the material or the devices to improve carrier mobility. Here we take a radically different path to solving this problem, namely by injecting carriers into states that are hybridized to the vacuum electromagnetic field. These are coherent states that can extend over as many as 10^5 molecules and should thereby favour conductivity in such materials. To test this idea, organic semiconductors were strongly coupled to the vacuum electromagnetic field on plasmonic structures to form polaritonic states with large Rabi splittings ca. 0.7 eV. Conductivity experiments show that indeed the current does increase by an order of magnitude at resonance in the coupled state, reflecting mostly a change in field-effect mobility as revealed when the structure is gated in a transistor configuration. A theoretical quantum model is presented that confirms the delocalization of the wave-functions of the hybridized states and the consequences on the conductivity. While this is a proof-of-principle study, in practice conductivity mediated by light-matter hybridized states is easy to implement and we therefore expect that it will be used to improve organic devices. More broadly our findings illustrate the potential of engineering the vacuum electromagnetic environment to modify and to improve properties of materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Optomechanics with molecules in a strongly pumped ring cavity

Cavity cooling of an atom works best on a cyclic optical transition in the strong coupling regime near resonance, where small cavity photon numbers suffice for trapping and cooling. Due to the absence of closed transitions a straightforward application to molecules fails: optical pumping can lead the particle into uncoupled states. An alternative operation in the far off-resonant regime generates only very slow cooling due to the reduced field-molecule coupling. We predict to overcome this by using a strongly driven ring-cavity operated in the sideband cooling regime. As in the optomechanical setups one takes advantage of a collectively enhanced field-molecule coupling strength using a large photon number. A linearized analytical treatment confirmed by full numerical quantum simulations predicts fast cooling despite the off-resonant small single molecule - single photon coupling. Even ground state cooling can be obtained by tuning the cavity field close to the Anti-stokes sideband for sufficiently high trapping frequency. Numerical simulations show quantum jumps of the molecules between the lowest two trapping levels, which can be be directly and continuously monitored via scattered light intensity detection.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Optical Lattices with Micromechanical Mirrors

We investigate a setup where a cloud of atoms is trapped in an optical lattice potential of a standing wave laser field which is created by retro-reflection on a micro-membrane. The membrane vibrations itself realize a quantum mechanical degree of freedom. We show that the center of mass mode of atoms can be coupled to the vibrational mode of the membrane in free space, and predict a significant sympathetic cooling effect of the membrane when atoms are laser cooled. The controllability of the dissipation rate of the atomic motion gives a considerable advantage over typical optomechanical systems enclosed in optical cavities, in that it allows a segregation between the cooling and coherent dynamics regimes. The membrane can thereby be kept in a cryogenic environment, and the atoms at a distance in a vacuum chamber.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Single-Atom Cavity QED and Opto-Micromechanics

In a recent publication [K. Hammerer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 063005 (2009)] we have shown the possibility to achieve strong coupling of the quantized motion of a micron-sized mechanical system to the motion of a single trapped atom. In the proposed setup the coherent coupling between a SiN membrane and a single atom is mediated by the field of a high finesse cavity, and can be much larger than the relevant decoherence rates. This makes the well-developed tools of CQED (cavity quantum electrodynamics) with single atoms available in the realm of cavity optomechanics. In this paper we elaborate on this scheme and provide detailed derivations and technical comments. Moreover, we give numerical as well as analytical results for a number of possible applications for transfer of squeezed or Fock states from atom to membrane as well as entanglement generation, taking full account of dissipation. In the limit of strong-coupling the preparation and verification of non-classical states of a mesoscopic mechanical system is within reach.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Micro-mechanical oscillator ground state cooling via intracavity optical atomic excitations

We predict ground state cooling of a micro-mechanical oscillator, i.e. a vibrating end-mirror of an optical cavity, by resonant coupling of mirror vibrations to a narrow internal optical transition of an ensemble of two level systems. The particles represented by a collective mesoscopic spin model implement, together with the cavity, an efficient, frequency tailorable zero temperature loss channel which can be turned to a gain channel of pump. As opposed to the case of resolved-sideband cavity cooling requiring a small cavity linewidth, one can work here with low finesses and very small cavity volumes to enhance the light mirror and light atom coupling. The tailored loss and gain channels provide for efficient removal of vibrational quanta and suppress reheating. In a simple physical picture of sideband cooling, the atoms shape the cavity profile to enhance/inhibit scattering into higher/lower energy sidebands. The method should be applicable to other cavity based cooling schemes for atomic and molecular gases as for molecular ensembles coupled to stripline cavities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Strong coupling of a mechanical oscillator and a single atom

We propose and analyze a setup to achieve strong coupling between a single trapped atom and a mechanical oscillator. The interaction between the motion of the atom and the mechanical oscillator is mediated by a quantized light field in a laser driven high-finesse cavity. In particular, we show that high fidelity transfer of quantum states between the atom and the mechanical oscillator is in reach for existing or near future experimental parameters. Our setup provides the basic toolbox for coherent manipulation, preparation and measurement of micro- and nanomechanical oscillators via the tools of atomic physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Cavity-assisted squeezing of a mechanical oscillator

We investigate the creation of squeezed states of a vibrating membrane or a movable mirror in an opto-mechanical system. An optical cavity is driven by squeezed light and couples via radiation pressure to the membrane/mirror, effectively providing a squeezed heat-bath for the mechanical oscillator. Under the conditions of laser cooling to the ground state, we find an efficient transfer of squeezing with roughly 60% of light squeezing conveyed to the membrane/mirror (on a dB scale). We determine the requirements on the carrier frequency and the bandwidth of squeezed light. Beyond the conditions of ground state cooling, we predict mechanical squashing to be observable in current systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Phase-noise induced limitations on cooling and coherent evolution in opto-mechanical systems

We present a detailed theoretical discussion of the effects of ubiquitous laser noise on cooling and the coherent dynamics in opto-mechanical systems. Phase fluctuations of the driving laser induce modulations of the linearized opto-mechanical coupling as well as a fluctuating force on the mirror due to variations of the mean cavity intensity. We first evaluate the influence of both effects on cavity cooling and find that for a small laser linewidth the dominant heating mechanism arises from intensity fluctuations. The resulting limit on the final occupation number scales linearly with the cavity intensity both under weak and strong coupling conditions. For the strong coupling regime, we also determine the effect of phase noise on the coherent transfer of single excitations between the cavity and the mechanical resonator and obtain a similar conclusion. Our results show that conditions for optical ground state cooling and coherent operations are experimentally feasible and thus laser phase noise does pose a challenge but not a stringent limitation for opto-mechanical systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Quantum effects in optomechanical systems

The search for experimental demonstrations of the quantum behavior of macroscopic mechanical resonators is a fastly growing field of investigation and recent results suggest that the generation of quantum states of resonators with a mass at the microgram scale is within reach. In this chapter we give an overview of two important topics within this research field: cooling to the motional ground state, and the generation of entanglement involving mechanical, optical and atomic degrees of freedom. We focus on optomechanical systems where the resonator is coupled to one or more driven cavity modes by the radiation pressure interaction. We show that robust stationary entanglement between the mechanical resonator and the output fields of the cavity can be generated, and that this entanglement can be transferred to atomic ensembles placed within the cavity. These results show that optomechanical devices are interesting candidates for the realization of quantum memories and interfaces for continuous variable quantum communication networks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Robust entanglement of a micromechanical resonator with output optical fields

We perform an analysis of the optomechanical entanglement between the experimentally detectable output field of an optical cavity and a vibrating cavity end-mirror. We show that by a proper choice of the readout (mainly by a proper choice of detection bandwidth) one can not only detect the already predicted intracavity entanglement but also optimize and increase it. This entanglement is explained as being generated by a scattering process owing to which strong quantum correlations between the mirror and the optical Stokes sideband are created. All-optical entanglement between scattered sidebands is also predicted and it is shown that the mechanical resonator and the two sideband modes form a fully tripartite-entangled system capable of providing practicable and robust solutions for continuous variable quantum communication protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Emergence of atom-light-mirror entanglement inside an optical cavity

We propose a scheme for the realization of a hybrid, strongly quantum-correlated system formed of an atomic ensemble surrounded by a high-finesse optical cavity with a vibrating mirror. We show that the steady state of the system shows tripartite and bipartite continuous variable entanglement in experimentally accessible parameter regimes, which is robust against temperature.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Atomic entanglement generation with reduced decoherence via four-wave mixing

In most proposals for the generation of entanglement in large ensembles of atoms via projective measurements, the interaction with the vacuum is responsible for both the generation of the signal that is detected and the spin depolarization or decoherence. In consequence, one has to usually work in a regime where the information aquisition via detection is sufficiently slow (weak measurement regime) such as not to strongly disturb the system. We propose here a four-wave mixing scheme where, owing to the pumping of the atomic system into a dark state, the polarization of the ensemble is not critically affected by spontaneous emission, thus allowing one to work in a strong measurement regime.

quant-ph↗