Devices and techniques for a particle positioning device are generally described. In some examples, a fluid may be introduced to a channel formed on a first surface of a substrate. In various examples, the channel may comprise a periodic dielectric structure etched in a first surface of the substrate and a channel wall material. In some examples, a laser beam may be directed through the channel wall material to the periodic dielectric structure. In various further examples, the laser beam may be reflected from the periodic dielectric structure into an interior region of the channel to form a focal enhancement region of the laser beam in the interior region of the channel adjacent to the periodic dielectric structure. In various examples, a force may be exerted on a particle suspended in the fluid with an electric field gradient generated by the focal enhancement region of the laser beam.

Atom-scale particles, e.g., neutral and charged atoms and molecules, are pre-cooled, e.g., using magneto-optical traps (MOTs), to below 100 μK to yield cold particles. The cold particles are transported to a sensor cell which cools the cold particles to below 1 μK using an optical trap; these particles are stored in a reservoir within an optical trap within the sensor cell so that they are readily available to replenish a sensor population of particles in quantum superposition. A baffle is disposed between the MOTs and the sensor cell to prevent near-resonant light leaking from the MOTs from entering the sensor cell (and exciting the ultra-cold particles in the reservoir). The transporting from the MOTs to the sensor cell is effected by moving optical fringes of optical lattices and guiding the cold particles attached to the fringes along a meandering path through the baffle and into the sensor cell.

An apparatus for trapping and sensing nanoparticles using plasmonic nanopores, comprising a conductive transparent layer, a conductive film layer mounted to a substrate, the film layer comprising a plurality of nanopores for trapping nanoparticles contained in a fluid situated between the conductive transparent layer and the conductive film layer, and an electric field source connected between the transparent layer and the film layer.

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).

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.

A method of designing at least one coil for producing a magnetic field is disclosed. The method comprises: i) setting a performance target comprising: a target magnetic field, and at least two of a target power, a target resistance, a target size and/or weight, a target supply voltage or current, and a target inductance; ii) determining initial design parameters for the at least one coil; iii) modelling performance with the current design parameters to determine a simulated performance against each of the performance targets; iv) calculating a penalty function based on the difference between the simulated performance and the performance targets; v) modifying the design parameters in order to reduce the penalty function; vi) iterating steps iii) to v) until the penalty function or simulated performance has met an acceptance condition.

An atomic beam is irradiated with a first laser beam, a second laser beam, and a third laser beam. The first laser beam and the third laser beam each have a wavelength corresponding to a transition between a ground state and a first excited state. The second laser beam has a wavelength corresponding to a transition between the ground state and a second excited state. First, atoms each having a smaller velocity component than a predetermined velocity in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the atomic beam are changed from the ground state to the first excited state by the first laser beam. Subsequently, a momentum is provided for individual atoms in the ground state by the second laser beam, which removes the atoms from the atomic beam. Finally, atoms in the first excited state are returned from the first excited state to the ground state by the third laser beam.

Atom-scale particles, e.g., neutral and charged atoms and molecules, are pre-cooled, e.g., using magneto-optical traps (MOTs), to below 100 μK to yield cold particles. The cold particles are transported to a sensor cell which cools the cold particles to below 1 μK using an optical trap; these particles are stored in a reservoir within an optical trap within the sensor cell so that they are readily available to replenish a sensor population of particles in quantum superposition. A baffle is disposed between the MOTs and the sensor cell to prevent near-resonant light leaking from the MOTs from entering the sensor cell (and exciting the ultra-cold particles in the reservoir). The transporting from the MOTs to the sensor cell is effected by moving optical fringes of optical lattices and guiding the cold particles attached to the fringes along a meandering path through the baffle and into the sensor cell.

Examples include a method to position atoms. The method comprises considering a target Hamiltonian encoding a specific problem to resolve using an optical tweezer traps quantum computing system. The method also comprises considering a set of representative Hamiltonians function of a position configuration of atoms in the quantum computing system. The method further comprises determining a specific position configuration whereby a specific similarity measure between the target Hamiltonian and a specific Hamiltonian of the representative Hamiltonians function of the specific position configuration is improved compared to another similarity measure between the target Hamiltonian and at least one other representative Hamiltonian function of a position configuration differing from the specific position configuration. In response to the determination of the specific position configuration, the method comprises positioning atoms in the specific position configuration in order to attempt to resolve the specific problem using the quantum computing system.