Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have described a near-perfect “quantum metamaterial”—a material with exotic properties not found in nature—using ultracold atoms trapped in an artificial crystal composed of light.
Using metamaterial theory and principles from a separate project supported by the Moore Foundation, the team proposes the use of an accordion-like atomic framework, or “lattice” structure, made with laser light to trap atoms in regularly spaced nanoscale pockets. Such a light-based structure, which has patterned features that in some ways resemble those of a crystal, is essentially a “perfect” structure—free of the typical defects found in natural materials.
Scientists believe they can pinpoint the placement of a so-called “probe” atom in this crystal of light, and actively tune its behavior with another type of laser light (near-infrared light) to make the atom cough up some of its energy on demand in the form of a particle of light, or photon.
This photon, in turn, can be absorbed by another probe atom (in the same or different lattice site) in a simple form of information exchange—like spoken words traveling between two string-connected tin cans.
This theoretical work represents a step toward manipulating atoms to transmit information, perform complex simulations, or function as powerful sensors.
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