We demonstrate a novel optical trapping scheme for ultracold atoms. Using a combination of evanescent wave, standing wave, and magnetic potentials we create a deeply 2D Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at a few microns from a glass surface. Using techn
iques such as broadband white light to create evanescent and standing waves, we realize a smooth potential with a trap frequency aspect ratio of 300:1:1 and long lifetimes. This makes the setup suitable for many-body quantum simulations and applications such as high precision measurements close to surfaces.
We present a quantum multi-modal treatment describing Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) as a mechanism for storing continuous variable quantum information in light fields. Taking into account the atomic noise and decoherences of realisti
c experiments, we model numerically the propagation, storage, and readout of signals contained in the sideband amplitude and phase quadratures of a light pulse. An analytical treatment of the effects predicted by this more sophisticated model is then presented. Finally, we use quantum information benchmarks to examine the properties of the EIT-based memory and show the parameters needed to operate beyond the quantum limit.
