Compact, simple, rapid quantum gases creation for high precision metrology in space

Among all the different quantum technologies quantum metrology and sensing is likely to be the first to emerge in our daily life. Different platforms have been developed in lab for many years and proofs of principle of their... [ view full abstract ]

Among all the different quantum technologies quantum metrology and sensing is likely to be the first to emerge in our daily life. Different platforms have been developed in lab for many years and proofs of principle of their applicability have been brought. The current developments are focusing on the reduction of size, weight and power (SWAP) of the setups.

We are here interested in the development of a setup allowing atomic interferometry (AI). Compared with optical interferometry AI presents a lot of advantages allowed by the use of a vector with more degrees of freedom than light. Atoms have mass and internal structure which make them sensitive to different fields (gravitational, electric, magnetic and interatomic). To make use of the wave-like behavior of atoms AI requires the use of quantum gases. In the past decades, revolutionary technics of laser cooling and trapping have allowed the creation of degenerated quantum gases like Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) on an everyday basis. However, those experiments are still limited to research labs. Technological applications of such setups require a stage of miniaturization to create a portable device that could be used for in situ measurements with reasonable SWAP.

We present here an all-optical setup designed to create quantum gases at a high repetition rate with the use of diffractive elements. The main limiting factor to miniaturization of laser cooling and trapping setups is the number of optical elements required. We demonstrate that the use of micro-fabricated diffraction gratings can overcome this limitation with no trade-off on the efficiency of cooling. We also show that even if this setup aims to produce a BEC of Rubidium, it can easily be mimicked to cool and trap other species as the same diffraction elements work for a large range of wavelengths. The setup is currently able to produce 2 10⁸ atoms of ⁸⁷Rb associated with a capture rate of 9 10⁷ atoms/s. In the next stage of the experiment, this ensemble will be loaded in an optical dipole trap to produce a BEC of 10⁵ atoms in 5s.