Geometrically asymmetric optical cavity for strong atom-photon coupling

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Kawasaki, Akio, Braverman, Boris, Pedrozo-Peñafiel, Edwin, Shu, Chi, Colombo, Simone, Li, Zeyang, Özel, Özge, Chen, Wenlan, Salvi, Leonardo, Heinz, André, Levonian, David, Akamatsu, Daisuke, Xiao, Yanhong, Vuletić, Vladan
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 05.02.2019
• Subjects: Coupling; Holes; Misalignment; Optical lattices; Physics - Atomic Physics; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Quantum Physics; Radius of curvature
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1811.08093

Optical cavities are widely used to enhance the interaction between atoms and light. Typical designs using a geometrically symmetric structure in the near-concentric regime face a tradeoff between mechanical stability and high single-atom cooperativity. To overcome this limitation, we design and implement a geometrically asymmetric standing-wave cavity. This structure, with mirrors of very different radii of curvature, allows strong atom-light coupling while exhibiting good stability against misalignment. We observe effective cooperativities ranging from \(\eta_{\rm eff}=10\) to \(\eta_{\rm eff}=0.2\) by shifting the location of the atoms in the cavity mode. By loading \(^{171}\)Yb atoms directly from a mirror magneto-optical trap into a one-dimensional optical lattice along the cavity mode, we produce atomic ensembles with collective cooperativities up to \(N\eta=2\times 10^4\). This system opens a way to preparing spin squeezing for an optical lattice clock and to accessing a range of nonclassical collective states.