Thesis

Miniaturised components for next generation cold-atom quantum sensors

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2024
Thesis identifier
  • T16917
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201981033
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • This thesis describes several investigations into different devices and techniques with the aim of reducing both the size and complexity of laser cooling experiments. While the focus here is placed on clocks, many of the techniques could be adapted and extended to different cold-atom sensors. At the heart of each investigation lies a grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) that allows the creation of cold-atom clouds of similar size and temperature to traditional 6-beam MOTs. Each experiment described here focuses on a different aspect of the wider systems required in cold-atom devices. Atom imaging along with routes to a maximised performance in microfabricated vacuum chambers are discussed. The possibility of loading optical lattices directly from the GMOT are also investigated. Using the same diffractive optic to load the GMOT, 1D and 3D optical lattices can be produced using a single input beam. This technique simplifies the creation of optical lattices along with improving their robustness to phase noise from the laser due to each lattice beam sharing a common phase. Finally, a cold-atom microwave clock is described and characterised. A short-term stability of 1.5 × 10−11τ −1/2 is demonstrated, averaging down to 2 × 10−12 after 100 s. The short-term stability limit is found to be dominated by signal to noise ratio of the Ramsey fringes while the medium term is dominated by magnetic field noise due to the experiment being magnetically unshielded. Improvements to the experimental system are suggested to help improve the performance of the clock in both the short and long-term. In addition, routes towards a more compact set-up are discussed.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Riis, Erling
  • Griffin, Paul
Resource Type
DOI

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