An example laser cooling system may include a first laser to induce a transition of a plurality of electrons in a medium to an excited energy state via absorption of photons. The laser cooling system may also include a second laser to stimulate emission from the medium of emitted photons having a higher energy than an energy of the absorbed photons.

The invention relates to a smoke analysis characterization cell employing optical spectroscopy, which comprises: a reaction chamber, an inlet orifice for injecting smoke into the reaction chamber; an outlet orifice for discharging the smoke from the reaction chamber; and an analysis window for the entry of a laser beam intended to form the plasma inside the reaction chamber, which cell is characterized in that the system further includes a blower for blowing an inert gas close to the analysis window; and a shielding gas injector for the shielded injection of the smoke into the reaction chamber, the shielding being provided by a jet of inert gas around the smoke.

Embodiments disclose an energy degrader for attenuating the energy of a charged particle beam, comprising a first energy attenuation member presenting a beam entry face having the shape of a part of a first helical surface, a second energy attenuation member presenting a beam exit face having the shape of a part of a second helical surface, the beam exit face being positioned downstream of said beam entry face with respect to the beam direction, and a drive assembly for rotating the first and/or the second energy attenuation members about respectively a first and/or a second rotation axis while crossed by the particle beam. The first and second helical surfaces are continuous surfaces and have the same handedness, to enable a more compact degrader with a smaller moment of inertia.

Systems and methods for eliminating multi-path errors from atomic inertial sensors are provided. In certain embodiments, a system for performing atom interferometry includes a vacuum cell containing multiple atoms and a first plurality of lasers configured to trap the atoms within the vacuum cell. The system further includes a second plurality of lasers configured to impart momentum to the atoms and direct the atoms down multiple paths, wherein a primary path in the multiple paths has a first and second component that converge at a converging point, wherein a diverging part of the primary path in which the first and second components are diverging is asymmetrical with respect to a converging part of the primary path in which the first and second components are converging, such that only the first and second components converge at the converging point wherein other paths do not converge at the converging point.

A cooling system for a cold-atom sensor, this system includes a two-dimensional cooling chamber, called the 2D chamber (Ch2D), kept under ultra-high vacuum and placed at least partially inside an integrating cylinder (IC) having a Z-axis, the integrating cylinder being configured to illuminate the 2D chamber with a first isotropic light (IL1), the 2D chamber comprising atoms to be cooled, a three-dimensional cooling chamber, called the 3D chamber (Ch3D), kept under ultra-high vacuum and joined to the 2D chamber by an aperture (Op) configured to allow the atoms to pass from the 2D chamber to the 3D chamber via movement substantially along the Z-axis, the 3D chamber being placed at least partially inside an integrating sphere (IS), the integrating sphere being configured to illuminate the 3D chamber with a second isotropic light (IL2).

Methods and controllers for reading a quantum state of an atomic object and/or qubit using coherent shelving are provided. A controller causes a first beam of a first wavelength and a second beam of a second wavelength to be incident on the qubit and causes a reading beam to be incident on the qubit. The first wavelength and the second wavelength are configured to couple a state of a qubit space of the qubit to a stable state. The stable state has a lifetime that is longer than a length of time required for performing a reading operation. The first beam and the second beam are generated by at least one manipulation source operated by at least one manipulation source driver of and/or in communication with and/or controlled by the controller.

A scalar particle conversion apparatus, system and method are disclosed. The apparatus includes an anode and a crystalline cathode disposed within an electrolytic fluid or gas. A voltage source is configured to generate a current between the anode and the cathode and one or more components within the electrolytic fluid or gas are loaded into the crystalline cathode. The crystalline cathode generates photons through the interaction between a scalar particle flow and oscillating magnetic hyperfine fields within the crystalline cathode via the inverse Primakoff effect. One or more energy conversion devices are arranged with respect to the crystalline cathode so as to convert the photons or heat from the crystalline cathode to an electrical output.

A scalar particle conversion apparatus, system and method are disclosed. The apparatus includes an anode and a crystalline cathode disposed within an electrolytic fluid or gas. A voltage source is configured to generate a current between the anode and the cathode and one or more components within the electrolytic fluid or gas are loaded into the crystalline cathode. The crystalline cathode generates photons through the interaction between a scalar particle flow and oscillating magnetic hyperfine fields within the crystalline cathode via the inverse Primakoff effect. One or more energy conversion devices are arranged with respect to the crystalline cathode so as to convert the photons or heat from the crystalline cathode to an electrical output.

An apparatus useful for creating and measuring states of an entangled system, comprising a pair of interacting multi-level systems, each of systems comprising a state |g>; a state |r>, and state |r*>. One or more first electromagnetic fields excite a first transition between the ground state |g> and the state |r> to create an entangled system. One or more second electromagnetic fields are tuned between the state |r> and the intermediate state |r*> so that any population of the systems in |r*> are dark to a subsequent detection of a population in the systems in |g>, providing a means to distinguish the entangled system in the state |g> and the entangled system in the state |r>. In one or more examples, the systems comprise neutral Rydberg atoms.

A fiber optic based particle manipulation system employs one or more optical fibers for emanating a refracted optical manipulation signal directed at a target particle for fixing or manipulating the particle for examination, research and manufacturing. A target particle may be a living cell or inanimate sample or compound of matter. An alignment linkage controls optical fibers carrying the manipulation signal for focusing one or more manipulation signals on the target particle. Manipulated particles occupy a fluid medium of either liquid or gas, and are responsive to the manipulation signal based on both photon bombardment and temperature differential from photon contact. The temperature differential is based on surface properties of the target particle, as smooth particles tend to exhibit a greater thermal differential for stronger displacement forces driving or affecting the target particle.