Colloquium Alex Burgers: Engineering Atom-Light Interactions in Photonic Crystal Waveguides

Title:
Engineering Atom-Light Interactions in Photonic Crystal Waveguides

Abstract(s):
Integrating cold atoms with nanophotonics enables the exploration of new paradigms in quantum optics and many body physics. Advanced fabrication capabilities for low-loss dielectric materials provide powerful tools to engineer band structure and light-matter couplings between photons and atoms. The current system at Caltech to explore such phenomena consists of a quasi-one-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide whose band structure arises from periodic modulation of the dielectric structure. The waveguide design gives rise to stable trap sites for atoms at each unit cell of the crystal (150 sites for the 1D waveguide). Atoms localized in these traps will interact with one another via guided modes of the waveguide creating a versatile system that can be utilized for both quantum memories and quantum simulation. I will present recent efforts to achieve high fractional filling of trap sites within the photonic crystal waveguide using an optical lattice delivery system and discuss future research goals. To conclude, I will discuss my own research interests and motivations moving forward.

Speaker Bio(s):
Dr. Burgers received his PhD in Physics in 2015 from the University of Michigan. His graduate studies focused on quantum optics with quantum dots. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology under Professor Jeff Kimble where his current interests lie at the intersection of atomic physics and nanophotonics.