arXiv subjects

C. I. Westbrook

Publications and source records attributed to C. I. Westbrook.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

An atom chip interferometer

We have realized an interferometer using a thermal cloud of magnetically trapped rubidium 87 atoms on a chip. The interferometer resembles a Ramsey interferometer with a state selective spatial splitting of the two internal states as proposed in [M. Ammar, and al., Phys. Rev. A, 91, 053623]. The splitting is effected by microwave fields from two on-chip waveguides while the atoms remain magnetically trapped. The inferred maximum separation is $1.2\pm 0.1~μ$m. We observe interference fringes with a contrast around 8\% limited by velocity difference of the two interferometer states when we close the interferometer. We develop a model describing this contrast decay.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Silicon nitride based integrated photonic circuit to control a cold-atom source

We have developed a silicon nitride based photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that is responsible for the cooling, pumping and imaging of cold rubidium 87 atoms. The photonic integrated circuit consists of two chips placed next to each other and has a total area of 2x2~cm$^2$. This greatly minimizes the area needed while still having all the optical control functions to create, control and measure a magneto-optical trap (MOT). The piezo electric material Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) on the PIC is employed for phase shifting a Mach-Zehnder type configuration where extinction ratios up to 50 dB and switching speeds of 1 MHz are achieved. For the first time a two and three dimensional rubidium 87 MOT is realized using an active PIC. For the three-dimensional MOT, we measure $7\cdot 10^7$ atoms with a temperature of 270~$μ$K.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Noise budget of a trapped on chip cold atom Rubidium 87 clock

In this paper, we present a realisation of an on chip atomic clock using a cold cloud of Rubidium 87 atoms. This clock is based on a Ramsey interferometer with a Ramsey time around 600 ms. This is realized with large lab temperature drift during the measurement (few degrees per day) and without magnetic field shielding. We review the experimental implementation of this clock and give a full study of the known noises present in this atomic clock.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Miniaturized optical system for a chip based cold atom inertial sensor

We miniaturized the complex optical system responsible for the cooling, pumping and imaging of an on-chip based cold atom inertial sensor. This optical bench uses bonded miniature optics and includes all the necessary optical functions. The bench has a volume of 35x25x5~cm$^3$. We developed a laser frequency lock adapted to the optical bench using saturated absorption in a rubidium cell. The entire laser source based on frequency doubling of 1.56~$μ$m fiber lasers, including the control system and the saturated absorption module, fits in a $5U$-rack. Using the miniaturized bench, we realized two and three dimensional magneto optical traps for Rubidium 87 atoms.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Effect of trap symmetry and atom-atom interactions on a trapped atom interferometer with internal state labelling

In this paper, we study the dynamics of a trapped atom interferometer with internal state labelling in the presence of interactions. We consider two situations: an atomic clock in which the internal states remain superposed, and an inertial sensor configuration in which they are separated. From the average spin evolution, we deduce the fringe contrast and the phase-shift. In the clock configuration, we recover the well-known identical spin rotation effect (ISRE) which can significantly increase the spin coherence time. We also find that the magnitude of the effect depends on the trap geometry in a way that is consistent with our recent experimental results in a clock configuration [M. Dupont-Nivet, and al., New J. Phys., 20, 043051 (2018)], where ISRE was not observed. In the case of an inertial sensor, we show that despite the spatial separation it is still possible to increase the coherence time by using mean field interactions to counteract asymmetries of the trapping potential.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Thermal counting statistics in an atomic two-mode squeezed vacuum state

We measure the population distribution in one of the atomic twin beams generated by four-wave mixing in an optical lattice. Although the produced two-mode squeezed vacuum state is pure, each individual mode is described as a statistical mixture. We confirm the prediction that the particle number follows an exponential distribution when only one spatio-temporal mode is selected. We also show that this distribution accounts well for the contrast of an atomic Hong--Ou--Mandel experiment. These experiments constitute an important validation of our twin beam source in view of a future test of a Bell inequalities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Momentum-resolved observation of thermal and quantum depletion in an interacting Bose gas

We report on the single-atom-resolved measurement of the distribution of momenta $\hbar k$ in a weakly interacting Bose gas after a 330 ms time-of-flight. We investigate it for various temperatures and clearly separate two contributions to the depletion of the condensate by their $k$-dependence. The first one is the thermal depletion. The second contribution falls of as $k^{-4}$, and its magnitude increases with the in-trap condensate density as predicted by the Bogoliubov theory at zero temperature. These observations suggest associating it with the quantum depletion. How this contribution can survive the expansion of the released interacting condensate is an intriguing open question.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Contrast and phase-shift of a trapped atom interferometer using a thermal ensemble with internal state labelling

We report a theoretical study of a double-well Ramsey interferometer using internal state labelling. We consider the use of a thermal ensemble of cold atoms rather than a Bose-Einstein condensate to minimize the effects of atomic interactions. To maintain a satisfactory level of coherence in this case, a high degree of symmetry is required between the two arms of the interferometer. Assuming that the splitting and recombination processes are adiabatic, we theoretically derive the phase-shift and the contrast of such an interferometer in the presence of gravity or an acceleration field. We also consider using a "shortcut to adiabaticity" protocol to speed up the splitting process and discuss how such a procedure affects the phase shift and contrast. We find that the two procedures lead to phase-shifts of the same form.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

Characterization of a detector chain using a FPGA-based Time-to-Digital Converter to reconstruct the three-dimensional coordinates of single particles at high flux

We report on the development of a novel FPGA-based Time-to-Digital Converter and its implementation in a detection chain that records the coordinates of single particles along three dimensions. The detector is composed of Micro-Channel Plates mounted on top of a cross delay line and connected to fast electronics. We demonstrate continuous recording of the timing signals from the cross delay line at rates up to 4.1x10^6 per second and three-dimensional reconstruction of the coordinates up to 3.2x10^6 particles per second. From the imaging of a calibrated structure we measure the in-plane resolution of the detector to be 140(20) um. In addition we analyze a method to measure the resolution without placing any structure under vacuum, a significant practical improvement. While we use UV photons here, the results of this work directly apply to the detection of other kinds of particles.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

Quantum signature of analog Hawking radiation in momentum space

We consider a sonic analog of a black hole realized in the one-dimensional flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that one- and two-body momentum distributions accessible by present-day experimental techniques provide clear direct evidence (i) of the occurrence of a sonic horizon, (ii) of the associated acoustic Hawking radiation and (iii) of the quantum nature of the Hawking process. The signature of the quantum behavior persists even at temperatures larger than the chemical potential.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Fast production of Bose-Einstein condensates of metastable Helium

We report on the Bose-Einstein condensation of metastable Helium-4 atoms using a hybrid approach, consisting of a magnetic quadrupole and a crossed optical dipole trap. In our setup we cross the phase transition with 2x10^6 atoms, and we obtain pure condensates of 5x10^5 atoms in the optical trap. This novel approach to cooling Helium-4 provides enhanced cycle stability, large optical access to the atoms and results in production of a condensate every 6 seconds - a factor 3 faster than the state-of-the-art. This speed-up will dramatically reduce the data acquisition time needed for the measurement of many particle correlations, made possible by the ability of metastable Helium to be detected individually.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Symmetric micro-wave potentials for interferometry with thermal atoms on a chip

A trapped atom interferometer involving state-selective adiabatic potentials with two microwave frequencies on a chip is proposed. We show that this configuration provides a way to achieve a high degree of symmetry between the two arms of the interferometer, which is necessary for coherent splitting and recombination of thermal (i.e. non-condensed) atoms. The resulting interferometer holds promise to achieve high contrast and long coherence time, while avoiding the mean-field interaction issues of interferometers based on trapped Bose-Einstein condenstates.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Violation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality with matter waves

The Cauchy-Schwarz (CS) inequality -- one of the most widely used and important inequalities in mathematics -- can be formulated as an upper bound to the strength of correlations between classically fluctuating quantities. Quantum mechanical correlations can, however, exceed classical bounds.Here we realize four-wave mixing of atomic matter waves using colliding Bose-Einstein condensates, and demonstrate the violation of a multimode CS inequality for atom number correlations in opposite zones of the collision halo. The correlated atoms have large spatial separations and therefore open new opportunities for extending fundamental quantum-nonlocality tests to ensembles of massive particles.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

An oscillator circuit to produce a radio-frequency discharge and application to metastable helium saturated absorption spectroscopy

We present an rf gas discharge apparatus which provides an atomic frequency reference for laser manipulation of metastable helium. We discuss the biasing and operation of a Colpitts oscillator in which the discharge coil is part of the oscillator circuit. Radiofrequency radiation is reduced by placing the entire oscillator in a metal enclosure.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2010

Bose-Einstein Condensation and Spin Mixtures of Optically Trapped Metastable Helium

We report the realization of a BEC of metastable helium-4 atoms (4He*) in an all optical potential. Up to 10^5 spin polarized 4He* atoms are condensed in an optical dipole trap formed from a single, focused, vertically propagating far off-resonance laser beam. The vertical trap geometry is chosen to best match the resolution characteristics of a delay-line anode micro-channel plate detector capable of registering single He* atoms. We also confirm the instability of certain spin state combinations of 4He* to two-body inelastic processes, which necessarily affects the scope of future experiments using optically trapped spin mixtures. In order to better quantify this constraint, we measure spin state resolved two-body inelastic loss rate coefficients in the optical trap.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2008

Pair correlations of scattered atoms from two colliding Bose-Einstein Condensates: Perturbative Approach

We apply an analytical model for anisotropic, colliding Bose-Einstein condensates in a spontaneous four wave mixing geometry to evaluate the second order correlation function of the field of scattered atoms. Our approach uses quantized scattering modes and the equivalent of a classical, undepleted pump approximation. Results to lowest order in perturbation theory are compared with a recent experiment and with other theoretical approaches.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Observation of atom pairs in spontaneous four wave mixing of two colliding Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study atom scattering from two colliding Bose-Einstein condensates using a position sensitive, time resolved, single atom detector. In analogy to quantum optics, the process can also be thought of as spontaneous, degenerate four wave mixing of de Broglie waves. We find a clear correlation between atoms with opposite momenta, demonstrating pair production in the scattering process. We also observe a Hanbury Brown and Twiss correlation for collinear momenta, which permits an independent measurement of the size of the pair production source and thus the size of the spatial mode. The back to back pairs occupy very nearly two oppositely directed spatial modes, a promising feature for future quantum optics experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Hanbury Brown and Twiss correlations in atoms scattered from colliding condensates

Low energy elastic scattering between clouds of Bose condensed atoms leads to the well known s-wave halo with atoms emerging in all directions from the collision zone. In this paper we discuss the emergence of Hanbury Brown and Twiss coincidences between atoms scattered in nearly parallel directions. We develop a simple model that explains the observations in terms of an interference involving two pairs of atoms each associated with the elementary s wave scattering process.

cond-mat.other↗