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Spatial and spectral coherent control with frequency combs

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 38–42 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Quantum coherent control1,2,3,4,5,6 is a powerful tool for steering the outcome of quantum processes towards a desired final state by the accurate manipulation of quantum interference between multiple pathways. Although coherent control techniques have found applications in many fields of science7,8,9,10,11,12, the possibilities for spatial and high-resolution frequency control have remained limited. Here, we show that the use of counter-propagating broadband pulses enables the generation of fully controlled spatial excitation patterns. This spatial control approach also provides decoherence reduction, which allows the use of the high-frequency resolution of an optical frequency comb13,14. We exploit the counter-propagating geometry to perform spatially selective excitation of individual species in a multicomponent gas mixture, as well as frequency determination of hyperfine constants of atomic rubidium with unprecedented accuracy. The combination of spectral and spatial coherent control adds a new dimension to coherent control, with applications in nonlinear spectroscopy, microscopy and high-precision frequency metrology, among others.

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Figure 1: Level diagram and schematic of the experimental set-up.
Figure 2: Experimental demonstration of spatial coherent control using four different phase masks.
Figure 3: Spatial coherent control of different atomic species.
Figure 4: Direct frequency comb spectroscopy of atomic rubidium with spatial coherent control.

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Acknowledgements

S.W. acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO Veni grant 680-47-402). K.S.E.E. acknowledges support from the NWO (VICI grant no. 680-47-310), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) through its programme ‘Broken Mirrors and Drifting Constants’, and Laserlab Europe (JRA ALADIN and INREX). The authors thank M. Sheinman for helpful discussions in the development of the theoretical model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LaserLaB Amsterdam, VU University, De Boelelaan 1081, Amsterdam, 1081HV, The Netherlands

    Itan Barmes, Stefan Witte & Kjeld S. E. Eikema

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  1. Itan Barmes
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  2. Stefan Witte
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  3. Kjeld S. E. Eikema
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Contributions

K.S.E.E. conceived the V-shape phase concept for frequency comb spectroscopy. I.B. extended this concept to full spatial coherent control and provided the theoretical description. I.B. performed the experiments (with assistance from S.W and K.S.E.E.) and data analysis. K.S.E.E. supervised the project. All authors participated in the design of the experiments, interpretation of the results and writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kjeld S. E. Eikema.

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Barmes, I., Witte, S. & Eikema, K. Spatial and spectral coherent control with frequency combs. Nature Photon 7, 38–42 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.299

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