Sub-Doppler rubidium atom cooling using a programmable agile integrated PZT-on-SiN resonator
Abstract
Programmability and precise control of laser frequency are essential for quantum experiments and applications such as atomic clocks, quantum computers, and cold-atom sensors. Current systems use bulky, power-hungry modulators and frequency shifters which are difficult to integrate and limit portability and scalability. We report an electrically controllable, agile optical frequency source based on a semiconductor laser stabilized to a photonic-integrated, lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-actuated resonator cavity. We demonstrate this approach with precision programmable frequency control of a 780-nm laser that can periodically reference to rubidium spectroscopy followed by fast, programmable, arbitrary frequency tuning sequences for quantum control. We use this approach to demonstrate sub-Doppler cooling of rubidium-87 without any external modulators, achieving atom-cloud temperatures as low as 16 K. The device achieves a tuning strength up to 1 GHz/V with 11 MHz modulation bandwidth while consuming only 10 nW of electrical power. This work establishes a route toward compact, low-power, and chip-scale laser systems for next-generation quantum and atomic sensing technologies.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.11834,
title = {Sub-Doppler rubidium atom cooling using a programmable agile integrated PZT-on-SiN resonator},
author = {Andrei Isichenko and Steven Carpenter and Nick Montifiore and Jiawei Wang and Mayand Dangi and Nitesh Chauhan and Pritha Mukherjee and Xuting Yang and Nitin Indukuri and Mark W. Harrington and Chuan Zhong and Iain M. Kierzewski and Ryan Q. Rudy and Jennifer T. Choy and Daniel J. Blumenthal},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.11834},
year = {2026}
}