Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Christopher Louis Panuski

Dirk Robert Englund

Cheng Peng

John Francis Barry

Danielle Ann Braje

Linh M Pham

Ryan Hamerly

Michael F O'Keeffe

Erik R Eisenach

Isaac Chuang

Ian Robert Christen

Erik M Thompson

Jonah A Majumder

Jordan Goldstein

Artur Hermans

Xingyu Zhang

Adrian Johannes Menssen

An atom control architecture based on VIS-IR photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology is characterized by (1) visible (VIS) and near-infrared (IR) wavelength operation, (2) channel counts extensible beyond 1000s of individually addressable atoms, (3) high intensity modulation extinction and (4) repeatability compatible with low gate errors, and (5) fast switching times. A 16-channel SiN-based APIC with (5.8±0.4) ns response times and <−30 dB extinction ratio at a wavelength of 780 nm. Based on a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication process, this atom-control PIC (APIC) technology can be used for atomic, molecular, and optical physics and emerging applications, from quantum computers with cold atoms or ions to quantum networks with solid-state color centers. This APIC technology is especially suitable for scalable quantum information processing based on optically programmable atomic systems.

High-speed spatial light modulation and quantum control

A spatial light modulator (SLM) comprised of a 2D array of optically-controlled semiconductor nanocavities can have a fast modulation rate, small pixel pitch, low pixel tuning energy, and millions of pixels. Incoherent pump light from a control projector tunes each PhC cavity via the free-carrier dispersion effect, thereby modulating the coherent probe field emitted from the cavity array. The use of high-Q/V semiconductor cavities enables energy-efficient all-optical control and eliminates the need for individual tuning elements, which degrade the performance and limit the size of the optical surface. Using this technique, an SLM with 10pixels, micron-order pixel pitch, and GHz-order refresh rates could be realized with less than 1 W of pump power.

All-optical spatial light modulator

Optical microcavity resonance measurements can have readout noise matching the fundamental limit set by thermal fluctuations in the cavity. Small-heat-capacity, wavelength-scale microcavities can be used as bolometers that bypass the limitations of other bolometer technologies. The microcavities can be implemented as photonic crystal cavities or micro-disks that are thermally coupled to strong mid-IR or LWIR absorbers, such as pyrolytic carbon columns. Each microcavity and the associated absorber(s) rest on hollow pillars that extend from a substrate and thermally isolate the cavity and the absorber(s) from the rest of the bolometer. This ensures that thermal transfer to the absorbers is predominantly from radiation as opposed to from conduction. As the absorbers absorb thermal radiation, they shift the resonance wavelength of the cavity. The cavity transduces this thermal change into an optical signal by reflecting or scattering more (or less) near-infrared (NIR) probe light as a function of the resonance wavelength shift.

Microcavity-enhanced optical bolometer

A reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) made of an electro-optic material in a one-sided Fabry-Perot resonator can provide phase and/or amplitude modulation with fine spatial resolution at speeds over a Gigahertz. The light is confined laterally within the electro-optic material/resonator layer stack with microlenses, index perturbations, or by patterning the layer stack into a two-dimensional (2D) array of vertically oriented micropillars. Alternatively, a photonic crystal guided mode resonator can vertically and laterally confine the resonant mode. In phase-only modulation mode, each SLM pixel can produce a &#x3c0; phase shift under a bias voltage below 10 V, while maintaining nearly constant reflection amplitude. This high-speed SLM can be used in a wide range of new applications, from fully tunable metasurfaces to optical computing accelerators, high-speed interconnects, true 2D phased array beam steering, beam forming, or quantum computing with cold atom arrays.

High-speed wavelength-scale spatial light modulators with two- dimensional tunable microcavity arrays

All-optical spatial light modulators

Microwave resonator readout of the cavity-spin interaction between a spin defect center ensemble and a microwave resonator yields fidelities that are orders of magnitude higher than is possible with optical readouts. In microwave resonator readout, microwave photons probe a microwave resonator coupled to a spin defect center ensemble subjected to a physical parameter to be measured. The physical parameter shifts the spin defect centers' resonances, which in turn change the dispersion and/or absorption of the microwave resonator. The microwave photons probe these dispersion and/or absorption changes, yielding a measurement with higher visibility, lower shot noise, better sensitivity, and higher signal-to-noise ratio than a comparable fluorescence measurement. In addition, microwave resonator readout enables coherent averaging of spin defect center ensembles and is compatible with spin systems other than nitrogen vacancies in diamond.

Microwave resonator readout of an ensemble solid state spin sensor

Growing community of inventors

Somerville, MA, United States of America

Christopher Louis Panuski