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arXiv:1211.7220 · Physical Review A

Atom lens without chromatic aberrations

Maxim A. Efremov, Polina V. Mironova, Wolfgang P. Schleich

Published Feb 6, 2013• 1 citation
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Abstract

We propose a lens for atoms with reduced chromatic aberrations and calculate its focal length and spot size. In our scheme a two-level atom interacts with a near-resonant standing light wave formed by two running waves of slightly different wave vectors, and a far-detuned running wave propagating perpendicularly to the standing wave. We show that within the Raman-Nath approximation and for an adiabatically slow atom-light interaction, the phase acquired by the atom is independent of the incident atomic velocity.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.023604

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We propose a lens for atoms with reduced chromatic aberrations and calculate its focal length and spot size. In our scheme a two-level atom interacts with a near-resonant standing light wave formed by two running waves of slightly different wave vectors, and a far-detuned running wave propagating perpendicularly to the standing wave. We show that within the Raman-Nath approximation and for an adiabatically slow atom-light interaction, the phase acquired by the atom is independent of the incident atomic velocity.
This paper examines the focusing of an atomic beam by the near field of laser radiation diffracted by a small aperture. The wave properties of the atom are taken into consideration within the framework of an approximate Schrödinger equation. The possibility is demonstrated of focusing an atomic beam into a spot some 3 nm across, the atomic and laser beam characteristics being quite acceptable. The main contribution to the spot size is shown to be from spherical aberrations and diffraction effects, the chromatic aberrations of the atomic beam with a 5% velocity distribution broadening having a lesser effect.
We consider the scattering of an atom by a sequence of two near-resonant standing light waves, each formed by two running waves with slightly different wave vectors. Due to opposite detunings of the two standing waves, within the rotating wave approximation, the adiabatic approximation applied to the atomic center-of-mass motion, and a smooth turning on and off of the interaction, the dynamical phase cancels out and the final state of the atom differs from the initial one only by the sum of the two Berry phases accumulated in the two interaction regions. This phase depends on the position of the atom in a way such that the wave packet emerging from the scattering region will focus, which constitutes a method to observe the Berry phase without resorting to interferometric methods.
The focusing of atoms to nanometer-scale dimensions by a near-resonant standing-wave light field is examined from a particle optics perspective. The classical equation of motion for atoms traveling through the lens formed by a node of the standing wave is derived and converted to a spatial trajectory equation. A paraxial solution is obtained, which results in simple expressions for the focal properties of the lens, useful for estimating its behavior. Aberrations are also discussed, and an exact numerical solution of the trajectory equation is presented. The effects on focal linewidth of angular collimation and velocity spread in the atomic beam are investigated, and it is shown that angular collimation has a much more significant effect than velocity spread, even when the velocity spread is thermal.
The focusing of atoms after interacting with both far-detuned and resonant standing wave fields in the thin-lens regime is considered. Exact quantum expressions for the Fourier components of the density (that include all spherical aberration) are used to study the focusing numerically. The following lens parameters and density profiles are calculated as functions of the pulsed field area $\ensuremath{\theta}:$ the position of the focal plane, peak atomic density, atomic density pattern at the focus, focal spot size, depth of focus, and background density. The lens parameters are compared to asymptotic, analytical results derived from a scalar diffraction theory for which spherical aberration is small but non-negligible $(\ensuremath{\theta}\ensuremath{\gg}1).$ Within the diffraction theory analytical expressions show that the focused atoms in the far-detuned case have an approximately constant background density $0.5(1\ensuremath{-}0.635{\ensuremath{\theta}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2})$ while the peak density behaves as $3.83{\ensuremath{\theta}}^{1/2},$ the focal distance as ${\ensuremath{\theta}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}(1+1.27{\ensuremath{\theta}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2})$ ${L}_{T}/2\ensuremath{\pi},$ the depth of focus as ${0.304L}_{T}{\ensuremath{\theta}}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2},$ and the focal spot size $0.0592\ensuremath{\lambda}{\ensuremath{\theta}}^{\ensuremath{-}3/4},$ where LT{L}_{T}LT​ is the Talbot distance and \ensuremath{\lambda} is the wavelength of the light. Focusing by the resonant standing wave field leads to a new effect, a Rabi-like oscillation of the atom density. For the far-detuned lens, chromatic aberration is studied quantitatively with the exact Fourier results. Similarly, the degradation of the focus that results from angular divergence in beams or thermal velocity distributions in traps is studied quantitatively with the exact Fourier method and understood analytically using the asymptotic results. Overall, we show that strong thin-lens focusing is possible with modest laser powers and with currently achievable atomic beam characteristics.
A near-resonant standing laser light field is used to focus a diverging beam of sodium atoms onto the atomic-beam axis. The investigations presented here distinguish between channeling of atoms with trajectories close to the axis and imaging of the atomic source. For laser detunings close to resonance, acceleration of the atoms in the transverse direction occurs. The amount of acceleration changes as either the intensity or the detuning of the standing wave is varied, thereby altering the position at which the atoms are imaged. This results in a variable focal-length lens for atoms. The experimental results are in good agreement with a theoretical model based on a continued-fraction solution for the standing-wave light forces.