Extreme sensing using collective quantum physics
Abstract
Quantum sensors based on atomic systems have sustained an astounding rate of progress in accuracy and precision for decades. These atomic sensors offer access to a full gambit of physical observables; time, frequency, length, magnetic and electric fields, accelerations, rotations, gravity, and temperature. As just one example, we can now realize frequency measurements with accuracy and precision pushing toward seventeen decimal places for clocks by probing ultra narrow optical transitions in atoms such as strontium, ytterbium and others. The key to these advances has been fueled by decades of work in atomic, molecular, and optical physics to realize ever increasing control over both the internal and external quantum degrees of freedom of individual atoms and molecules, work that has been recognized with at least eight distinct Nobel prizes. The key insight here is that all of this progress has been fueled by a paradigm based on single particle physics: though there may be many atoms N in the quantum sensor, in reality, the N atoms are simply N independent copies of the same measurement running in parallel. Here we will pursue using collective effects to advance the field of quantum sensing beyond the single atom paradigm. We will exploit quantum correlations between atoms to do things with many atoms that you cannot fundamentally do with independent atoms. In this proposal, we pursue specific interrelated paths forward: superradiant lasers that overcome cavity vibration noise and atomic dephasing; development of a new collective supercooling mechanism for preparing low entropy states for precision measurements; three-dimensional optical lattice clocks using a degenerate quantum gas confined in crystals of light to form fermionic band-insulators and thereby suppress effects of atom-atom interactions and extend interrogation times close to the fundamental limit of the clock excited state natural lifetime; cavity-based spin-squeezed quantum metrology to overcome the standard quantum limit set by the quantum projection noise and push forward the precision frontier for atomic clocks. We will develop core insights and fundamental understanding that will broadly guide future applications of quantum correlations. Specifically, we wish to utilize the tools of precision measurement and control to investigate and explore a broad class of quantum many-body states of great conceptual importance. This aspect of many-body quantum control is essential for the generation of a wide variety of new states of matter. It is also a crucial ingredient to gaining insight into the forefront topic of far-from-equilibrium quantum dynamics in strongly interacting systems. Quantum synchronization, the physical effect that lies at the heart of the superradiant laser, is a particularly interesting problem that highlights the intrinsic competition between dissipation, which tends to destroy macroscopic coherence, and synchronization, which aims to reinforce it. There is a unique opportunity here to harness the impressive recent progress in quantum many-body research in atomic systems for precision measurement gains.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1610576
Entities
People
- James Thompson
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- University of Colorado Boulder