Coupling a thermal atomic vapor to an integrated ring resonator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the integration of thermal rubidium vapor with on-chip ring resonators, advancing the development of scalable, chip-scale hybrid quantum systems for future quantum networks.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to couple thermal atomic vapor to integrated ring resonators, paving the way for scalable quantum photonic circuits.

Findings

Thermal rubidium atoms can be coupled to integrated photonic cavities.

The approach supports miniaturization and scalability of atom-cavity systems.

Strong coupling has not yet been achieved, but the method is a significant step forward.

Abstract

Strongly interacting atom-cavity systems within a network with many nodes constitute a possible realization for a quantum internet which allows for quantum communication and computation on the same platform. To implement such large-scale quantum networks, nanophotonic resonators are promising candidates because they can be scalably fabricated and interconnected with waveguides and optical fibers. By integrating arrays of ring resonators into a vapor cell we show that thermal rubidium atoms above room temperature can be coupled to photonic cavities as building blocks for chip-scale hybrid circuits. Although strong coupling is not yet achieved in this first realization, our approach provides a key step towards miniaturization and scalability of atom-cavity systems.