Abstract

Long qubit coherence and efficient atom–photon coupling are essential for advanced applications in quantum communication. One technique to maintain coherence is dynamical decoupling (DD), where a periodic sequence of refocusing pulses is employed to reduce the interaction of the system with the environment. We experimentally study the implementation of DD on an optically trapped, spin-polarized $^{87}{\rm Rb}$ atom. We use the two magnetic-sensitive $5{S_{1/2}}$ Zeeman levels $|F = 2,{m_F} = - 2\rangle$ and $|F = 1,{m_F} = - 1\rangle$ as qubit states, motivated by the possibility of coupling $|F = 2,{m_F} = - 2\rangle$ to $5{P_{3/2}}$ the excited state $|F^\prime = 3,{m^\prime _F} = - 3\rangle$ via a closed optical transition. With more refocusing pulses in the DD technique, we manage to extend the coherence time from 38(3) µs to around 7 ms. We also observe a strong correlation between the motional states of the atom and the qubit coherence after the refocusing, which can be used as a measurement basis to resolve trapping parameters.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

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