Attosecond pulses can ionize atoms in a coherent process. Since the emerging fragments are entangled, however, each preserves only a fraction of the initial coherence, thus limiting the chance of guiding the ion subsequent evolution. In this work, we use \emph{ab initio} simulations of pump-probe ionization of helium above the $2s/2p$ threshold to demonstrate how this loss of coherence can be controlled. Thanks to the participation of $2\ell n\ell'$ states, coherence between the ionic $2s$ and $2p$ states, which are degenerate in the non-relativistic limit, results in a stationary, delay-dependent electric dipole. From the picosecond real-time beating of the dipole, caused by the fine-structure splitting of the $n=2$ manifold, it is possible to reconstruct all original ion coherences, including between antiparallel-spin states, which are sensitive probe of relativistic effects in attosecond photoemission.
We develop an approach to describing coherent Compton scattering of photons in the keV energy range from hydrogen and helium atoms based on a relativistic version of the AA-approximation within the standard perturbative S-matrix formalism. The resulting formulas for the cross section take into account the effects of the electron boundness and correctly reproduce the behavior of the cross section at large photon energies, where it goes to Thomson formula, which coincides with the Klein-Nishina-Tamm formula for the cross section in the non-relativistic limit.
We report the slowing of a supersonic beam by elastic reflection from a receding atomic mirror. We use a pulsed supersonic nozzle to generate a 511 +/- 9 m/s beam of helium that we slow by reflection from a Si(111)-H(1x1) crystal placed on the tip of a spinning rotor. We were able to reduce the velocity of helium by 246 m/s and show that the temperature of the slowed beam is lower than 250 mK in the co-moving frame.
We experimentally demonstrate the manipulation of two-orthogonal components of a spin wave in an atomic ensemble. Based on Raman two-photon transition and Larmor spin precession induced by magnetic field pulses, the coherent rotations between the two components of the spin wave is controllably achieved. Successively, the two manipulated spin-wave components are mapped into two orthogonal polarized optical emissions, respectively. By measuring Ramsey fringes of the retrieved optical signals, the π/2-pulse fidelity of ~96% is obtained. The presented manipulation scheme can be used to build an ar…
Attosecond pump-probe ionization process can be used to prepare atomic ions in the coherent superposition of states with opposite parity. The multiphoton shake-up ionization of Helium, in particular, generates ions with same principal quantum number and a net dipole moment that evolves on a time scale of few picoseconds, due to spin-orbit coupling. In this work we use an ab initio time-dependent close-coupling code to study how the coherence between levels of Helium ion can be controlled from the parameters of the ionizing-pulse sequence. The observed periodic revivals, on a picosecond time sc…
Creating stable superposed states of matter is one of the most intriguing aspects of quantum physics, leading to a variety of counter-intuitive scenarios along with a possibility of restructuring the way we understand, process and communicate information. Accordingly, there has been a major research thrust in understanding and quantifying such coherent superposed states. Here we propose and experimentally explore a quantifier that captures effective coherent superposition of states in an atomic ensemble at room-temperature. The quantifier provides a direct measure of ground state coherence for…
The sensitivity of an atomic interferometer increases when the phase evolution of its quantum superposition state is measured over a longer interrogation interval. In practice, a limit is set by the measurement process, which returns not the phase, but its projection in terms of population difference on two energetic levels. The phase interval over which the relation can be inverted is thus limited to the interval $[-π/2,π/2]$; going beyond it introduces an ambiguity in the read out, hence a sensitivity loss. Here, we extend the unambiguous interval to probe the phase evolution of an atomic en…
We demonstrate coherent microwave control of the rotational, hyperfine and Zeeman states of ultracold CaF molecules, and the magnetic trapping of these molecules in a single, selectable quantum state. We trap about $5\times 10^{3}$ molecules for 2 s at a temperature of 65(11) $μ$K and a density of $1.2 \times 10^{5}$ cm$^{-3}$. We measure the state-specific loss rate due to collisions with background helium.
We show that the correlation dynamics in coherently excited doubly excited resonances of helium can be followed in real time by two-photon interferometry. This approach promises to map the evolution of the two-electron wave packet onto experimentally easily accessible non-coincident single electron spectra. We analyze the interferometric signal in terms of a semi-analytical model which is validated by a numerical solution of the time-dependent two-electron Schrödinger equation in its full dimensionality.
We review experimental and theoretical studies of coherent backscattering of near resonant radiation from an ultracold atomic gas in the weak localization regime. Recent accomplishments in high resolution spectroscopy of atomic ensembles based on the coherent backscattering process are discussed. We also propose several new experimental schemes for time-dependent spectroscopy as applied to multiple scattering in the regime of weak localization.
The evolution of electron wavepackets determines the course of many physical and chemical phenomena and attosecond spectroscopy aims to measure and control such dynamics in real-time. Here, we investigate radial electron wavepacket motion in Helium by using an XUV attosecond pulse train to prepare a coherent superposition of excited states and a delayed femtosecond IR pulse to ionize them. Quantum beat signals observed in the high resolution photoelectron spectrogram allow us to follow the field-free evolution of the bound electron wavepacket and determine the time-dependent ionization dynamic…
We demonstrate how to use feedback to control the internal states of trapped coherent ensembles of two-level atoms, and to protect a superposition state against the decoherence induced by a collective noise. Our feedback scheme is based on weak optical measurements with negligible back-action and coherent microwave manipulations. The efficiency of the feedback system is studied for a simple binary noise model and characterized in terms of the trade-off between information retrieval and destructivity from the optical probe. We also demonstrate the correction of more general types of collective …
In a thermal ensemble of atoms driven by coherent fields, how does evolution of quantum superposition compete with classical dynamics of optical pumping and atomic diffusion? Is it optical pumping that first prepares a thermal ensemble, with coherent superposition developing subsequently or is it the other way round: coherently superposed atoms driven to steady state via optical pumping? Using a stroboscopic probing technique, here we experimentally explore these questions. A 100 ns pulse is used to probe an experimentally simulated, closed three-level, lambda-like configuration in rubidium at…
Using the standard Hamiltonian of the BCS theory, we show that in an ensemble of interacting fermions with the spin 1/2 there exist coherent states $|NC>$, which nullify the Hamiltonian of the interparticle interaction (scattering). These states have an analogy with the well-known in quantum optics the coherent population trapping (CPT) effect. The structure of these CPT-like states corresponds to Cooper pairs with the total spin $S$=1. The found states have a huge degree of degeneracy and carry a macroscopic magnetic moment, that allows us to construct a new model of the magnetism connected w…
We report coherent interactions within an ensemble of silicon-vacancy color centers in diamond. The interactions are ascribed to resonant dipole-dipole coupling. Further, we demonstrate control over resonant center pairs by using a driving optical pulse to induce collective, interaction-enabled Rabi-oscillations in the ensemble. Non-resonant center pairs do not undergo collective oscillations.
We report two novel effects in an inhomogeneous ensemble of two-level systems driven by an external field. First, we observe a rigidity of the oscillation frequency: the dominant Rabi oscillation frequency does not change with the frequency of the driving field, in contrast to the well-known law of Rabi frequency increase with growing detuning of the driving field. Second, we observe a time-dependent frequency shift of the ensemble-averaged oscillation. We show that these effects follow from the inhomogeneity of the two-level splitting across the ensemble, allowing for a distribution of local …
As a unique feature, the $^{229}$Th nucleus has an isomeric transition in the vacuum ultraviolet that can be accessed by optical lasers. The interference effects occurring in the interaction between coherent optical light and an ensemble of $^{229}$Th nuclei are investigated theoretically. We consider the scenario of nuclei doped in vacuum ultraviolet-vacuum ultraviolet transparent crystals and take into account the effect of different doping sites and therefore different lattice fields that broaden the nuclear transition width. This effect is shown to come in interplay with interference effec…
Nuclear spins of noble-gas atoms are exceptionally isolated from the environment and can maintain their quantum properties for hours at room temperature. Here we develop a mechanism for entangling two such distant macroscopic ensembles by using coherent light input. The interaction between the light and the noble-gas spins in each ensemble is mediated by spin-exchange collisions with alkali-metal spins, which are only virtually excited. The relevant conditions for experimental realizations with ^{3}\text{He} or ^{129}\text{Xe} are outlined.
In an ensemble of laser-driven atoms involving strongly interacting Rydberg states, the excitation probability is usually strongly suppressed. In contrast, here we identify a regime in which the steady-state Rydberg excited fraction is enhanced by the interaction. This effect is associated with the build-up of many-body coherences, induced by coherent multi-photon excitations between collective states. The excitation enhancement should be observable under currently-existing experimental conditions, and may serve as a direct probe for the presence of coherent multi-photon dynamics involving col…
We investigate the collective scattering of coherent light from a thermal alkali-metal vapor with temperatures ranging from 350 to 450 K, corresponding to average atomic spacings between $0.7 λ$ and $0.1 λ$. We develop a theoretical model treating the atomic ensemble as coherent, interacting, radiating dipoles. We show that the two-time second-order correlation function of a thermal ensemble can be described by an average of randomly positioned atomic pairs. Our model illustrates good agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, we show how fine-tuning of the experimental parameters m…
The photochemistry of a molecular ensemble coupled to a resonance cavity and triggered by a femtosecond laser pulse is investigated from a real-time, quantum dynamics perspective with the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method. Coherent excitation of a superposition of electronic states in the ensemble leads to superradiant energy transfer to the cavity characterized by quadratic scaling with the number of molecules. Electronic decoherence associated with loss of nuclear wave packet overlap among those states destroys superradiant energy transfer, returning to a linear regime. For e…
Using the standard Hamiltonian of the BCS theory, we show that in an ensemble of interacting fermions there exists a coherent state $|NC>$, which nullifies the Hamiltonian of the interparticle interaction. This state has an analogy with the well-known in quantum optics coherent population trapping effect (CPT). A possible application of such CPT-like states in the superconductivity theory is discussed.
We analyze a quantum force sensor that uses coherent quantum noise cancellation (CQNC) to beat the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL). This sensor, which allows for the continuous, broad-band detection of feeble forces, is a hybrid dual-cavity system comprised of a mesoscopic mechanical resonator optically coupled to an ensemble of ultracold atoms. In contrast to the stringent constraints on dissipation typically associated with purely optical schemes of CQNC, the dissipation rate of the mechanical resonator only needs to be matched to the decoherence rate of the atomic ensemble -- a condition that …
We demonstrate coherent microwave control of rotational and hyperfine states of trapped, ultracold, and chemically stable $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules. Starting with all molecules in the absolute rovibrational and hyperfine ground state, we study rotational transitions in combined magnetic and electric fields and explain the rich hyperfine structure. Following the transfer of the entire molecular ensemble into a single hyperfine level of the first rotationally excited state, $J{=}1$, we observe collisional lifetimes of more than $3\, \rm s$, comparable to those in the rovibrational ground state…
