QUANTUM
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Technological capabilities found in research-grade quantum physics laboratories (atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and quantum magnetometers) feature performances hardly beaten in terms of precision, accuracy, and stability. However, despite two decades long efforts, these phenomenal instruments are hardly operated outside dedicated laboratories with their physical footprint being the size of a room. Ultra-cold atom and quantum optics laboratories require complex optical and ultra-high vacuum (UHV) setups as their fundamental building blocks, individual atoms, work at their best in a vacuum and cooled to micro-kelvin temperatures. We propose replacing them with HCPCF (patented by GLO) filled with atomic vapors. This is due to the fact that the central core of the fiber can simultaneously be a micro-container of alkali vapors and an optical waveguide with controllable modal content¹, enabling a high and versatile atom-light coupling platform with performances comparable to those found in cavity QED without the inherent complexity. This system can be hermetically sealed to create a highly versatile atomic and photonic component, a Photonic Microcell™ (PMC, patented by GLO) – which is both an optical fiber and an atomic system whose functionality can be engineered. In a leap, the footprint of research-grade laboratory components will be reduced from 1000 cm³ to 0.1 cm³, with a volume gain of four orders of magnitude. By confining the atoms together with light over modal areas of as small as a few m², whilst keeping them in interaction over length scales a million times longer than the Rayleigh range the best of two worlds can be achieved: friendly compactness coupled with unprecedented atom-laser interactions.