Using advanced atomic clocks to mimic other ideal quantum systems, physicists at the Joint Experimental Astrophysics Institute (JILA) have performed unusual magnetic properties that make the behavior of atoms in the gas very solid, something that has been done in solid materials Tough and long process of research. This represents a new "close-label" study that is used in atomic clocks to create new materials for applications such as "spin" devices and quantum computers.
The atomic clock of this record, researched by the Joint Institute of Experimental Astrophysics, in which strontium atoms are trapped in a laser grid called optical lattices, has proved to be typical of crystalline magnetic behavior at the atomic scale. Such a model to study the weird rules of quantum mechanics is of great value.
Create a "synthetic" magnetic field, JILA team together to create a quantum phenomenon of the two bell atoms of nature called spin-orbit coupling. The long life and high-precision control features of the atomic clock enable researchers to overcome the problems of other gas-based spin-orbital coupled platforms, that is, interference due to heating and atom spontaneous changes Staff hard to achieve.
The most famous spin-orbit coupling is the electron within a single atom, where the electron's spin (whose momentum direction, such as a small arrow pointing up or down), is locked in orbit around the nucleus to create a rich interior Atomic structure. In this work, the spin orbit couples the spinlock of an atom, which acts like a tiny internal magnet bar that moves through the optical lattice to the outside of the atom. The team of experimental astrophysics researchers precisely manipulate the movement of thousands of spin-strontium atoms in the atomic clock, measure the resultant magnetic field, and observe the key signals of spin-orbit coupling, for example, spin-orbit-based spin The change of atomic motion wave.
The research related to this experiment has been published online in a paper in Nature. The Institute for Experimental Astrophysics is a joint effort of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"Spin-orbit coupling is very useful for studying new types of quantum materials," said Jun Ye, a member of NIST / JILA. "By using our quantum analog atomic clock, we are expected to inspire and unveil new topologies that are useful for enabling robust quantum information processing and spintronics."
Spin-orbit coupling is an important feature of topological materials and theoretical work on this topic has been awarded at this year's Nobel Prize in physics for its properties that are electrically conductive on its surface but internally act as insulators. This feature can be used to create new devices, rather than the usual charge-based electron spin, topological quantum computers, in theory, can be a powerful way to achieve powerful calculations. Real materials of this nature are hard to fabricate and to study, but the atomic gases are purer and easier to control.
Research in this area is quite cutting-edge. The first demonstration of the spin-orbit coupling of atoms in a gas was performed by the NIST physicists at the Joint Quantum Research Institute in 2011.
The atomic clock developed by the Joint Institute of Experimental Astrophysics has several features that make it a good imitator of crystalline solids. Researchers use laser to detect the "ticking" of a clock, the atomic transition between two energy levels. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the atom behaves like an electron in a solid material, where the electron has two spin states ("spin-up" and "spin-down"). When an atom is excited to a higher energy state, the laws of physics require conservation of energy and momentum, so the momentum of the atom slows down.
The net result is a paradigm shift between the atomic spin and the momentum. In laser grids, or optical lattices, this mode occurs at regular tens of thousands of atoms, which can be compared to the phenomenon of lattice structures in solid crystals. Since the excited state of the atom lasted 160 seconds, the researchers had plenty of time to make measurements without atomic loss or heating. .
The use of atomic clocks as a quantum simulator provides the prospect of real-time, non-destructive, and atomic-kinetic measurements in optical lattices. The current clock and simulated atoms are arranged in one dimension. However, in the future, researchers hope to create more complex and singular behaviors through multiple types of synthetic atomic spin states. Ye's team is developing a 3-D version of the atomic clock that is expected to spin-orbit in more than one dimension by adding more laser beams to form more lattices.
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