FOLIO is an ANR collaborative project coordinated by Quentin Glorieux at Sorbonne Université. It develops a compact atom–photonics platform in which rubidium vapour is integrated into a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre. The 48-month project began in December 2022 and is funded under grant ANR-22-CE30-0015.
Paraxial fluids of light in bulk vapour cells offer low loss and tunable photon–photon interactions, but their interaction length and transverse confinement remain limited. A hollow-core fibre provides a much longer nonlinear medium, strong optical confinement and engineered spatial modes. Filling and sealing the fibre with rubidium turns it into a Photonic Micro-cell®: a fibre-integrated system combining atomic nonlinearity with standard photonic interfaces.
FOLIO connects device development with fundamental many-body physics. Its main objectives are to:
The project combines three complementary partners:
This structure enables rapid feedback between fibre engineering, atomic spectroscopy and photon-fluid experiments.