We review our recent experimental progress in quantum technology employing amplification effect of four-wave mixing in a rubidium vapor. We have produced an intensity difference squeezed light source at frequencies as low as 1.5 kHz which is so far the lowest frequency at which squeezing has been observed in an atomic system. Moreover, we find that the bandwidth of our squeezed light source can be controlled with light intensity pumping. Using our non-classical light source, we have further developed a nonlinear Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer, for which the maximum fringe intensity depends quadratically on the intensity of the phase-sensing field at the high-gain regime, leading to much better sensitivity than a linear MZ interferometer in which the beam splitters have the same phase-sensing intensity. The quantum technologies developed by our group could have great potential in areas such as precision measurement and quantum information.
Two novel electrostatic traps named octopole-based disk electrostatic trap(ODET)and tubular-based disk electrostatic trap(TDET)are proposed for trapping cold polar molecules in low-field-seeking states.Using MgF as the target molecule,single loading and multi-loading methods are numerically simulated with varied incident velocities of slow molecular beams in the two types of traps,respectively.In ODET,with an incident velocity of 10 m/s,a highest loading efficiency of 78.4% or 99.9% has been achieved under the single loading or multi-loading operation mode.In TDET,with an incident velocity of 11 m/s,a highest loading efficiency of 81.6% or 106.5% has been achieved using the two loading methods,respectively.With such high loading efficiencies,the trapped cold molecules can be applied in the researches of cold collisions,high precision spectroscopy,and precision measurements.Especially,together with a blue-detuned hollow beam,the new electrostatic traps proposed here offer a new platform for the following gradient-intensity cooling of MgF molecules,which may provide a new way to produce high density ultracold molecules.
Bin WeiHengjiao GuoYabing JiShunyong HouJianping Yin
We theoretically investigate the orientation of the cold KRb molecules induced in a switched electrostatic field by numerically solving the full time-dependent Schr6dinger equation. The results show that the periodic field-free molecular orientation can be realized for the KRb molecules by rapidly switching off the electrostatic field. Meanwhile, by varying the switching times of the electrostatic field, the adiabatic and nonadiabatic interactions of the molecules with the applied field can be realized. Moreover, the influences of the electrostatic field strength and the rotational temperature to the degree of the molecular orientation are studied. The investigations show that increasing the electrostatic field will increase the degree of the molecular orientation, both in the constant-field regime and in the field-free regime, while the increasing of the rotational temperature of the cold molecules will greatly decrease the degree of the molecular orientation.
We investigate the characteristics of three kinds of quantum correlations, measured by pairwise quantum discord (QD), geometric measure of quantum discord (GMQD), and measurement-induced disturbance (MID), in the systems of three- and four-dipole arrays. The influence of the temperature on the three quantum correlations and entanglement of the systems is also analyzed numerically. It is found that novel quantum correlation switches called QD, GMQD, and MID respectively can be constructed with the qubits consisting of electric dipoles coupled by the dipole-dipole interaction and oriented along or against the external electric field. Moreover, with the increase of temperature, QD, GMQD, and MID are more robust than entanglement against the thermal environment. It is also found that for each dipole pair of the three- and four-dipole arrangements, the MID is always the largest and the GMQD the smallest.
A novel scheme for guiding arbitrary buffer-gas cooled neutral molecules in a hollow optical fiber (HOF) using a red-detuned HEll mode is proposed and analysed theoretically. We give the electromagnetic field distribution of the HEll mode in the HOF and calculate the optical potential of an 12 molecule, and study the molecule guiding mechanism using a classical Monte Carlo simulation. Using a 6 kW input laser, an S-shape HOF with a 2 cm curvature radius for both bends, and an input molecular beam with a transverse temperature of 0.5 K and longitudinal temperature of 5 K, we obtain a guiding efficiency of -0.126% for the scheme, and the transverse and longitudinal temperatures of the guided molecular beam are 1.9 mK and 0.5 K, respectively.