arXiv subjects

Kevin Loeffler

Publications and source records attributed to Kevin Loeffler.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sub-Doppler laser cooling and optical transport of cesium with static magnetic fields

Laser cooling of alkali atoms typically requires time-varying magnetic fields, introducing unwanted coupling between atom preparation and coherent operations. Here we demonstrate sub-Doppler laser cooling and optical transport of alkali atoms in a fully static magnetic-field configuration. Using a blue-detuned Type-II magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the closed $F=3 \rightarrow F'=2$ transition of the D2 line in cesium, we achieve temperatures of 17(1) $\mu$K without changing the magnetic-field gradient between cooling stages. This enables direct loading into a shallow optical lattice and transport over 17 cm within the same static-field environment. In contrast to conventional alkali cooling schemes with dynamic fields, our approach establishes a continuous cooling and transport protocol compatible with static-field platforms. These results validate Type-II cooling as a practical technique for alkali atoms and provide a new route toward continuous-operation architectures in sensing and quantum computing.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Demonstration of a Logical Architecture Uniting Motion and In-Place Entanglement

We demonstrate a logical neutral atom architecture that integrates atom motion with in-place entanglement to achieve lower overheads than entangling-zone approaches. Using a 114-qubit device, we perform three proof-of-principle logical-qubit experiments. First, we implement a pre-compiled, non-scalable variant of Shor's algorithm, observing improved logical-over-physical performance, including with loss correction and leakage detection, achieving up to a 2x reduction in TVD. Second, we construct constant-depth logical CX ladders; on current hardware these execute with serial entangling operations, yet still yield 2-4x lower error for 8 and 12 logical qubits. Third, we prepare the [[16,4,4]] code and perform single-round decoding with post-processed error correction, achieving 8x improvement on logical vs physical. These results demonstrate how combining motion with in-place entanglement offers lower overhead than entangling-zone approaches.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

High resolution ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer for cold trapped ion experiments

Trapping molecular ions that have been sympathetically cooled with laser-cooled atomic ions is a useful platform for exploring cold ion chemistry. We designed and characterized a new experimental apparatus for probing chemical reaction dynamics between molecular cations and neutral radicals at temperatures below 1 K. The ions are trapped in a linear quadrupole radio-frequency trap and sympathetically cooled by co-trapped, laser-cooled, atomic ions. The ion trap is coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to readily identify product ion species, as well as to accurately determine trapped ion numbers. We discuss, and present in detail, the design of this ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer, as well as the electronics required for driving the trap and mass spectrometer. Furthermore, we measure the performance of this system, which yields mass resolutions of $m/Δm \geq 1100$ over a wide mass range, and discuss its relevance for future measurements in chemical reaction kinetics and dynamics.

physics.ins-det↗