Fluids of light in hollow-core fiber micro-cells – FOLIO

Photons are great carriers of information but they usually don’t interact with one another. Atoms interact but are hard to manipulate and do not benefit from the toolbox of quantum optics for detecting quantum fluctuations and entanglement. Many approaches have been proposed to marry these two systems and create new states of light, but to date, the realization of large-scale synthetic materials made of optical photons is still missing.

Fluids of light have emerged as a potential candidate to bridge the gap between quantum gases and quantum optics. Recent advances, led by the PI of this project, have validated this alternative approach for studying many-body quantum effects with light.

The goal of the FOLIO project is to investigate this exciting potential of creating and studying new states of light with the development of an original fiber-integrated atom-photonic device. It relies on i) the creation of a novel experimental platform for fluids of light based on highly tailored hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HCPCF) by the industrial partner, and on ii) the complementary expertise of the 2 academic partners on warm vapors / cold atoms for non-linear and quantum optics.

The consortium will take advantage of its unique scientific and industrial experience in in-fiber atom spectroscopy, such as original techniques to mitigate the critical issue of atoms adsorption on the fiber inner walls, to:
(i) explore photon condensation with evaporative cooling in 2D fluid of light and response to quantum quenches in 1D,
(ii) implement strong interaction in fluids of light using a cold atomic cloud and giant Kerr non-linearity,
and (iii) develop a market-ready highly functionalized rubidium photonic microcell.
By the end of the project, we will have explored weakly and strongly interacting photon fluids in low dimensions, and we will propose a production-ready commercial system for atom-optics in HCPCF.

The consortium is structured in a way to enhance the project ambitious output. The the industrial partner will use its world-renown expertise in HCPCF technology to provide the 2 academic partners with the necessary fibers and hardware for atom loading.
Conversely, the 2 academic partners will use their respective expertise in atom-photonics to focus on investigating novel physical phenomena and feedback to the industrial partner with the necessary knowledge for future design and development of quantum-dedicated photonic components. The shared expertise in atom-photonics between the consortium partners will play a key "catalytic-agent" in fluidifying the interdependent project tasks.