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arXiv:1101.1570 · Physical Review A

Band-structure loops and multistability in cavity QED

B. Prasanna Venkatesh, Jonas Larson, Duncan H J O’Dell

Published Jun 7, 2011• 26 citations
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Abstract

We calculate the band structure of ultracold atoms located inside a laser-driven optical cavity. For parameters where the atom-cavity system exhibits bistability, the atomic band structure develops loop structures akin to the ones predicted for Bose-Einstein condensates in ordinary (noncavity) optical lattices. However, in our case the nonlinearity derives from the cavity back-action rather than from direct interatomic interactions. We find both bi- and tristable regimes associated with the lowest band, and show that the multistability we observe can be analyzed in terms of swallowtail catastrophes. Dynamic and energetic stability of the mean-field solutions is also discussed, and we show that the bistable solutions have, as expected, one unstable and two stable branches. The presence of loops in the atomic band structure has important implications for proposals concerning Bloch oscillations of atoms inside optical cavities [Peden et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 043803 (2009); Prasanna Venkatesh et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 063834 (2009)].

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.063606

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We calculate the band structure of ultracold atoms located inside a laser-driven optical cavity. For parameters where the atom-cavity system exhibits bistability, the atomic band structure develops loop structures akin to the ones predicted for Bose-Einstein condensates in ordinary (noncavity) optical lattices. However, in our case the nonlinearity derives from the cavity back-action rather than from direct interatomic interactions. We find both bi- and tristable regimes associated with the lowest band, and show that the multistability we observe can be analyzed in terms of swallowtail catastrophes. Dynamic and energetic stability of the mean-field solutions is also discussed, and we show that the bistable solutions have, as expected, one unstable and two stable branches. The presence of loops in the atomic band structure has important implications for proposals concerning Bloch oscillations of atoms inside optical cavities [Peden et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 043803 (2009); Prasanna Venkatesh et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 063834 (2009)].
Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice Bloch oscillate when subject to a constant force. In the first work presented in this thesis we have theoretically studied the scenario where the optical lattice potential is provided by the electric field inside an optical cavity. The coherent atom-light interaction in a cavity gives rise to a backaction effect on the light field which can modify the intracavity field amplitude and phase. In our first treatment of this problem we model the cavity light field and atoms by classical fields and solve the coupled atom-light equations of motion. As a result, we find that the amplitude and phase of the transmitted light field is modulated at the Bloch frequency. Remarkably, the Bloch frequency itself is not modified by the backaction. Thus the transmitted light field can be used to observe the oscillations continuously, allowing high-precision measurement with small clouds of atoms. In the second problem presented in this thesis, we explore the band structure of the steady state solutions of the atom-cavity system. A crucial first step towards determining the band structure is the identification of an energy functional that describes the coupled atom-light system. Although, we do not include direct atom-atom interactions in our models, the coupling of the atoms to the single mode light field of the cavity introduces an effective mutual interaction which is correctly taken into account by the energy functional we introduce. Corresponding to each point in the band there exists a steady state light field associated with an average cavity photon number. The dispersive nonlinear atom-light interaction can lead to bistable solutions for this intracavity photon number. For parameters where the atom-cavity system exhibits bistability, the atomic band structure develops loop structures akin to the ones predicted for Bose-Einstein condensates in ordinary (non-cavity) optical lattices. However, in our case the nonlinearity derives from the cavity backaction rather than from direct interatomic interactions. We find both bi- and tri-stable regimes associated with the lowest band, and show that the multistability we observe can be analysed in terms of swallowtail catastrophes. Dynamic and energetic stability of the meanfield solutions is also studied, and we show that the bistable solutions have, as expected, one unstable and two stable branches. The presence of loops in the band structure can lead to a breakdown in adiabaticity during Bloch oscillations as the entire band is sampled during the dynamics. We therefore use the insight gleaned from this work in choosing parameters for the Bloch oscillation measurement proposal presented in the rest of the thesis. In the third work presented in the thesis, we go beyond the mean field description and consider effects of the quantised nature of the light and atomic fields. The cavity light field is always in contact with external electromagnetic fields through the partially transmissive mirrors. This coupling to the external modes enters as quantum noise in the dynamics of the intracavity field and can also be viewed as a manifestation of quantum measurement backaction corresponding to the continuous observation of the transmitted light field. We solve the Heisenberg-Langevin equations for linearized fluctuations about the atomic and optical meanfields and examine how this influences the signal-to-noise ratio of a measurement of external forces using this system. In particular, we investigate the effects of changing the number of atoms, the intracavity lattice depth, and the atom-light coupling strength, and show how resonances between the Bloch oscillation dynamics and the quasiparticle spectrum have a strong influence on the signal-to-noise ratio as well as heating effects. One of the hurdles we overcome along the way is the proper treatment of fluctuations about time-dependent meanfields in the context of cold atom cavity-QED.
We investigate the band structure and the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in a triple-well trap, which are located in a high-finesse optical cavity. For the noninteracting atoms, the band structure of the eigenenergies are obtained using the numerical methods under the mean-field approximation. It is demonstrated that the energy band structure is strongly dependent on the value of reduced cavity detuning. Under some conditions, the atomic band structure develops loop structures and swallowtail structure, which mean the atom-cavity system exhibits bistability. We attribute the appearance of new states to the nonlinearity of the cavity-field-induced tilt. For the interacting atoms, the structure of the eigenenergy band appears more complicated for the interaction between atoms.
In this work, we consider excited many-body mean-field states of bosons in a double-well optical lattice by investigating stationary Bloch solutions to the nonlinear equations of motion. We show that, for any positive interaction strength, a loop structure emerges at the edge of the band structure whose existence is entirely due to interactions. This can be contrasted to the case of a conventional optical (Bravais) lattice where a loop appears only above a critical repulsive interaction strength. Motivated by the possibility of realizing such nonlinear Bloch states experimentally, we analyze the collective excitations about these nonlinear stationary states and thereby establish conditions for the system's energetic and dynamical stability. We find that there are regimes that are dynamically stable and thus apt to be realized experimentally.
The Bloch states of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in pure nonlinear lattices (NLs) are dynamically unstable so that they cannot show superfluidity. We overcome this problem by finding that the two-component BECs in NLs can be stabilized by coherent linear coupling. Furthermore, in the limit of strong coherent coupling, the lowest Bloch band in the whole Brillouin zone can be dynamically stable. We also find a hysteretic behavior with looplike structure in the Bloch band resembling the so-called ``swallowtail'' loop. The dynamical stabilization and the looplike band structure can be realized in experiments by current technology. Our results are obtained from a discrete model, and major results are also confirmed by a continuum model.
We study experimentally the stability of excited, interacting states of bosons in a double-well optical lattice in regimes where the nonlinear interactions are expected to induce ``swallowtail'' looped band structure. A dynamic homogeneous Gross-Pitaevskii calculation indicates that the double-well lattice both stabilizes the looped band structure and allows for dynamic preparation of different initial states, including states within the loop structure. The homogeneous calculation predicts that the loop states, unlike the ground states, should be dynamically stable. An inhomogeneous mean-field calculation including the trap potential, however, implies that the decay is dominated by inhomogeneous effects and that there is little variation in the decay rate among the states prepared within the loop structure. By experimentally preparing different initial coherent states and observing their subsequent decay, we observe distinct decay rates in regimes where multivalued looped band structure is expected, although not the stability predicted by the homogeneous calculation.
Energy band structure and stability of Bose-Einstein condensate with both two- and three-body interactions in one-dimensional periodic optical lattices are discussed. It is demonstrated that the lowest energy band can show a loop structure at the boundary of the first Brillouin zone only when the number of atoms is larger than a critical value. When the loop structure is excited, an analytical expression of the loop width is obtained. The energetical and dynamical stabilities of the system are determined by considering the behavior of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional when the condensate wave function diverge away from a stationary state upon small perturbation, and its dependence on the number of atoms, the magnitude of the periodic potential, especially, the strength of the three-body force are studied. In addition, a criteria of the stability for excitations with long wavelengths is given by applying the hydrodynamic approach. The influence of the three-body interaction on the band properties and the stabilities are discussed in detail. It is shown that the critical density for developing the loop structure, the loop width, and the instability criteria are modified dramatically by the three-body interaction.