State-selective imaging of single rubidium atoms in a solid neon matrix

The development of single-spin quantum sensors with nanoscale resolution would provide immense utility in the determination of molecular structure, with applications in fields such as biology and chemistry. This dissertation discusses our progress toward using rubidium atoms trapped in solid neon as single-atom quantum sensors. The process of doping rare-gas solids allows for the co-trapping of arbitrary atoms and molecules, which is an advantage for nanoscale sensing. The dopants can also be buried inside the bulk of the solid, which is useful for avoiding noise from the surface. We begin with an overview of relevant optical and magnetic properties of the trapped Rb atoms, measured using an ensemble of atoms, that are critical for quantum sensing of magnetic fields. These include the absorption and fluorescence spectra of the atoms, which have interesting and complicated structure, the resilience of the atoms to optical bleaching, and the proportion of the atoms that fluoresce when optically excited. We can also control the quantum states of the atomic ensemble through optical pumping, create coherent superpositions of these states via pulsed RF excitation, and determine the ensemble spin-dephasing time T2*, which is on the order of tens of microseconds. By using dynamical decoupling techniques, we obtain ultralong spin-coherence times T2 on the order of 0.1 s. We also show that the dynamical decoupling sequence turns the atoms into an effective AC magnetometer. We use the atoms to detect the nuclear magnetic resonance of nearby unpolarized 21Ne nuclei, demonstrating the potential for performing nanoscale sensing measurements. The dissertation concludes by detailing the progress we have made toward performing single-atom sensing measurements: we image single atoms trapped in the matrix, measure several key optical properties of the lone atoms, and demonstrate optical readout of the spin state of a single atom in a rare-gas matrix. This combination of spin-coherence properties and single-atom optical properties presented in this dissertation makes Rb atoms in Ne extremely promising for nanoscale quantum sensing.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctorate Degree

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lancaster, David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Weinstein, Jonathan

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/handle/11714/11131

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarwolf.unr.edu:11714/11131