Ultracold atoms
By cooling carefully prepared atoms or ions to temperatures nearing the absolute zero, a regime is attained where quantum effects are so relatively important as to visibly affect the atoms. The experimental setup can be controlled precisely to generate lattices of atoms and observe specific interactions, leading to practical observations of difficult theoretical problems.
Ultra-low light measurements
Single atoms generate very little fluorescence, sometimes with fluxes as low as a few photons per second, and cannot be excited at high power to avoid disturbing the sample and losing the carefully prepared quantum states. Moreover, it is necessary to attain very high imaging rates for certain measurements, compounding the low signal issue.
Better photon-counting performances
With lower clock-induced charges, the main source of noise in EMCCDs, Nüvü can reach an EM gain of up to 5000, whilst typical EMCCDs are limited to 1000. This higher gain, powered by our patented electronics, is crucial to obtain the best photon-counting performances and allows more genuine photons detected.
These electronics also allow to drive the sensor faster and obtain higher frame rates or to use specific readout modes to reach very low exposure times. Thus, Nüvü will both reach the required imaging rates and have the sensitivity to obtain high quality images in these conditions. More information on photon counting with EMCCDs is available in Nüvü Camēras’ photon counting tutorial here.
Demonstration: Studying quantum gases
Prof. Selim Jochim and Prof. Fred Jendrzejewski at the University of Heidelberg, a leader in quantum physics research, both research quantum gases. Using Nüvü’s HNü 512, with the lowest clock-induced charges on the market and its improved photon counting performance, they have successfully completed their observations of quantum phenomena down to the single atom and paved the way for the future of quantum computing.
Trapped ions
In order to develop quantum computers, first we must achieve better comprehension of their basic unit of information; the quantum bit (qubit). Several ions can be prepared to be in a superposed state, acting as qubits, and then trapped in a standing wave potential to form an ion chain. This chain can be used as a register to test operations and algorithms, which will deepen our understanding of quantum computing and eventually allow scaling up to larger processing units.
A low light detection challenge
Due to the short-lived nature of some ions, it is crucial to obtain high quality images in short exposure times, which can be difficult due to the presence of read noise. This challenge is all the more relevant since many ions emit in the UV range, where typical camera quantum efficiencies are lower.
Higher SNR in lower exposure times
Nüvü offers multiple UV solutions to improve quantum efficiency in UV wavelengths down to 150 nm, greatly increasing the quality of your measurements in these wavelengths. Thanks to the EMCCD’s electron multiplication, your effective read noise is negligible and with our CCCP the next dominant source of noise, the clock induced charges, are significantly reduced. This allows for high SNR even at extremely low exposure times.