$Λ$-enhanced gray-molasses loading and EIT cooling of neutral atoms in nanophotonic traps

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Pache, Lucas, Glicenstein, Antoine, Schneeweiss, Philipp, Volz, Jürgen, Rauschenbeutel, Arno, Pennetta, Riccardo
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Pache, Lucas
Glicenstein, Antoine
Schneeweiss, Philipp
Volz, Jürgen
Rauschenbeutel, Arno
Pennetta, Riccardo
author_facet Pache, Lucas
Glicenstein, Antoine
Schneeweiss, Philipp
Volz, Jürgen
Rauschenbeutel, Arno
Pennetta, Riccardo
contents Nanophotonic traps for cold atoms typically have trap volumes that are orders of magnitude smaller than, e.g., free-space optical tweezers. This makes efficient loading of these traps challenging, thereby limiting the total number of atoms coupled to the nanophotonic waveguide. Here, we demonstrate that $Λ$-enhanced gray-molasses ($Λ$GM) can substantially increase the number of trapped atoms in a nanofiber-based cold-atom setup. Specifically, we observe a six-fold increase in the number of loaded atoms compared to conventional red-detuned polarization gradient cooling. Despite the unusually small depth of our optical trap of only 24 $μ$K, we load about 4000 individual Cesium atoms, achieving optical depths exceeding 140 and reaching the collisional blockade regime over a length of approximately 1 mm. After loading, we perform efficient EIT-assisted cooling that is found to increase the trap storage time to 400(9) ms. This is a 5-fold improvement over the passive storage time. Remarkably, EIT-cooling also works with two co-propagating nanofiber-guided light fields and requiries only about a few hundred picowatt of optical power. Our results provide an efficient method to boost both the number of loaded atoms and the storage time of nanophotonic atom traps.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_13387
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle $Λ$-enhanced gray-molasses loading and EIT cooling of neutral atoms in nanophotonic traps
Pache, Lucas
Glicenstein, Antoine
Schneeweiss, Philipp
Volz, Jürgen
Rauschenbeutel, Arno
Pennetta, Riccardo
Atomic Physics
Optics
Quantum Physics
Nanophotonic traps for cold atoms typically have trap volumes that are orders of magnitude smaller than, e.g., free-space optical tweezers. This makes efficient loading of these traps challenging, thereby limiting the total number of atoms coupled to the nanophotonic waveguide. Here, we demonstrate that $Λ$-enhanced gray-molasses ($Λ$GM) can substantially increase the number of trapped atoms in a nanofiber-based cold-atom setup. Specifically, we observe a six-fold increase in the number of loaded atoms compared to conventional red-detuned polarization gradient cooling. Despite the unusually small depth of our optical trap of only 24 $μ$K, we load about 4000 individual Cesium atoms, achieving optical depths exceeding 140 and reaching the collisional blockade regime over a length of approximately 1 mm. After loading, we perform efficient EIT-assisted cooling that is found to increase the trap storage time to 400(9) ms. This is a 5-fold improvement over the passive storage time. Remarkably, EIT-cooling also works with two co-propagating nanofiber-guided light fields and requiries only about a few hundred picowatt of optical power. Our results provide an efficient method to boost both the number of loaded atoms and the storage time of nanophotonic atom traps.
title $Λ$-enhanced gray-molasses loading and EIT cooling of neutral atoms in nanophotonic traps
topic Atomic Physics
Optics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13387