Developing a new fully-fiber prototype, based on the trapping and cooling of cold atoms in a hollow core fiber, and providing a platform for experiments on emergent self-ordering, atom cooling and superradiance.

Project subject:

The growing relevance of artificial intelligence in society demands precise, lightweight, affordable and robust sensors. Among the best laboratory sensors, those which are based on individual atoms stand out for their impeccable stability and precision, but most are bulky, fragile and costly.

The CRYST^3 project will contribute to the development of a new material in which individual alkaline atoms, at microkelvin temperatures, are encapsulated within the hollow core of a photonic crystal optical fiber, fully functionalized, hermetically sealed and integrated with light sources.

CRYST^3 will generate the first prototype of this new material, fully operational and customized, including digital design, fabrication, post-processing and testing, up until industrial evaluation by a leading photonics company.

This prototype will serve as a platform for studying the anticipated new physical phenomena that arise from cold atoms trapped in a hollow core fiber: spontaneous and spatial ordering of atoms and superradiant emission resulting from the collective scattering of light by atoms.

ALPhANOV's role:

As part of this project, ALPhANOV will be responsible for developing the functionalization of special fibers. This functionalization will include the adaptation of the mode as well as the inscription of the Bragg gratings. ALPhANOV will also be the coordinator of communication, dissemination and exploitation activities throughout the project CRYST^3 project.

Coordinator :

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (IT)

Partners:

• University of Limoges (FR)
• Institute of Theortical and Applied Optics IOTA – SUPOPTIQUE (FR)
• ALPhANOV Technology Center (FR)
• GLOphotonics (FR)
• Universität Innsbruck (AT)
• WIGNER Fizikai Kutatóközpont (HU)U
• Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia - UNIMORE (IT)

Funding:

H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2020 / H2020- FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01 (# 964531)