Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2111.03750 · Optics Express

Spatially strongly confined atomic excitation via a two dimensional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

Hamid Reza Hamedi, Giedrius Žlabys, V. Ahufinger, Thomas Halfmann, J. Mompart, Gediminas Juzeliūnas

Published Mar 10, 2022• 18 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider a method of sub-wavelength superlocalization and patterning of atomic matter waves via a two dimensional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (2D STIRAP) process. An atom initially prepared in its ground level interacts with a doughnut-shaped optical vortex pump beam and a traveling wave Stokes laser beam with a constant (top-hat) intensity profile in space. The beams are sent in a counter-intuitive temporal sequence, in which the Stokes pulse precedes the pump pulse. The atoms interacting with both the traveling wave and the vortex beam are transferred to a final state through the 2D STIRAP, while those located at the core of the vortex beam remain in the initial state, creating a super-narrow nanometer scale atomic spot in the spatial distribution of ground state atoms. By numerical simulations we show that the 2D STIRAP approach outperforms the established method of coherent population trapping, yielding much stronger confinement of atomic excitation. Numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation show that using such a method one can create 2D bright and dark solitonic structures in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The method allows one to circumvent the restriction set by the diffraction limit inherent to conventional methods for formation of localized solitons, with a full control over the position and size of nanometer resolution defects.

DOI
10.1364/oe.447397

Related papers

Vortex creation in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

G. Nandi, R. Walser, W. P. Schleich

We examine a scheme for the optical creation of a superfluid vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, using the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage technique (STIRAP). By exposing an oblate, axis-symmetric condensate to two copropagating laser pulses, one can transfer external angular momentum from the light field to the matter wave, if one of the beams is the fundamental Gaussian mode and the other is a Gauss-Laguerre mode of angular momentum $1\ensuremath{\hbar}$. We demonstrate the complete transfer efficiency by numerical integration of the multicomponent Gross-Pitaevskii equation and explain the results with an intuitive and accurate approximation within the Thomas-Fermi limit. In addition, we discuss residual excitations (breathing modes) which occur in the two-dimensional regime and present the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum.

Physical Review A•Jun 10, 2004•54 citations

Subwavelength spatial confinement of optical excitation by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage variants in a doped solid

Anonymous, Thomas Riederer, Thomas Halfmann

We experimentally demonstrate subwavelength spatial confinement of optical excitation using variants of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in a Pr 3 + : Y 2 SiO 5 crystal. Building on conventional STIRAP, we implement two more advanced schemes, double STIRAP and tripod STIRAP, which enable enhanced spatial control. At the cost of reduced coherence, double STIRAP provides an almost twofold improvement in resolution compared with conventional STIRAP, which already enables localization nearly two orders of magnitude below the pump beam waist. To resolve such fine structures near the diffraction limit, we employ an autocorrelation-based measurement technique. With this setup, we demonstrate excitation confinement by conventional STIRAP down to 260 ± 40 nm , thus achieving subwavelength localization. As another powerful variant of adiabatic passage, we apply tripod STIRAP using an additional donut-shaped control beam that suppresses population transfer outside the beam center via coherent population trapping. With tripod STIRAP, we generate excitations as narrow as 350 ± 40 nm , a factor of 28 below the width of the driving control beam. We demonstrate the scalability of the method by preparing tightly packed grids with up to 41 excitation spots without crosstalk, making the method well-suited for quantum architectures. Our results establish STIRAP variants as robust, versatile tools for coherent, spatially selective optical excitation on a subwavelength scale, opening broad applications in quantum technologies and classical optics.

Physical Review A•Jul 7, 2026•0 citations

How to STIRAP a vortex

G. Nandi, R. Walser, W. P. Schleich

We examine a scheme for the optical creation of a superfluid vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), using the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) technique. By exposing an oblate, axis-symmetric condensate to two co-propagating laser pulses, one can transfer external angular momentum from the light field to the matter wave, if one of the beams is the fundamental Gaussian mode and the other is a Gauss-Laguerre mode of angular momentum $1\hbar$. We demonstrate the complete transfer efficiency by numerical integration of the multi-component Gross-Pitaevskii equation and explain the results with an intuitive and accurate approximation within the Thomas-Fermi limit. In addition, we discuss residual excitations (breathing modes) which occur in the two-dimensional regime and present the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum.

arXiv:cond-mat/0401298•Jan 16, 2004•0 citations

Confining atomic populations in space via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in a doped solid

Markus Stabel, Leo Feldmann, Thomas Halfmann

Abstract We experimentally demonstrate spatial confinement of atomic excitation by adiabatic passage processes in a rare-earth ion-doped Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal. In particular, we apply stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and compare its performance with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Using a Stokes beam with Gaussian and a pump beam with donut shape we localize the atomic population in the zero-intensity center of the latter. Our data confirm that adiabatic passage confines excitation far below the diameter of the driving laser beams, and that this localization rapidly increases with laser intensity. We find, that STIRAP significantly outperforms EIT, as it was predicted by previous theory proposals, i.e., STIRAP reaches small excitation volumes with much lower laser intensity. The experimental data agree very well with numerical simulations. The findings serve as a step towards new applications for STIRAP, to prepare excitation regions or population patterns in space with large resolution.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jun 15, 2022•6 citations

Single-site addressing of ultracold atoms beyond the diffraction limit via position-dependent adiabatic passage

Daniel Viscor, J. L. Rubio, G. Birkl +2 more

We propose a single-site addressing implementation based on the subwavelength localization via adiabatic passage (SLAP) technique. We consider a sample of ultracold neutral atoms loaded into a two-dimensional optical lattice with one atom per site. Each atom is modeled by a three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ system in interaction with a pump and a Stokes laser pulse. Using a pump field with a node in its spatial profile, the atoms at all sites are transferred from one ground state of the system to the other via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, except the one at the position of the node that remains in the initial ground state. This technique allows for the preparation, manipulation, and detection of atoms with a spatial resolution better than the diffraction limit, which either relaxes the requirements on the optical setup used or extends the achievable spatial resolution to lattice spacings smaller than accessible to date. In comparison to techniques based on coherent population trapping, SLAP gives a higher addressing resolution and has additional advantages such as robustness against parameter variations, coherence of the transfer process, and the absence of photon induced recoil. Additionally, the advantages of our proposal with respect to adiabatic spin-flip techniques are highlighted. Analytic expressions for the achievable addressing resolution and efficiency are derived and compared to numerical simulations for ${}^{87}$Rb atoms in state-of-the-art optical lattices.

arXiv:1301.1546•Physical Review A•Dec 17, 2012•14 citations

Generation and detection of matter-wave gap vortices in optical lattices

Elena A. Ostrovskaya, Tristram J. Alexander, Yuri S. Kivshar

We analyze numerically the process of dynamical generation of spatially localized vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC's) with repulsive atomic interactions confined by two-dimensional optical lattices. Akin to bright solitons in a repulsive condensate, these nonlinear localized states exist only within the gaps of the matter-wave band-gap spectrum imposed by the periodicity of the lattice potential. We discuss the complex structure of matter-wave phase singularities associated with different types of stationary gap vortices and suggest two different excitation methods. In one method, the condensate is adiabatically driven to the edge of the Brillouin zone where a vortex phase is subsequently imprinted onto the condensate wave packet. Alternatively, a vortex is created in a condensate confined in a harmonic trap and then is nonadiabatically released into the lattice potential. We find that only the latter method leads to robust and reliable generation of vortices within the gap of the matter-wave band-gap spectrum. Moreover, the nonadiabatic excitation can lead to the formation of broad gap vortices from the initial BEC wave packets with a large number of atoms. These broad vortices are intimately connected to self-trapped nonlinear states of the BEC recently demonstrated in experiments with a one-dimensional optical lattice. Our numerical simulations also confirm the feasibility of a homodyne interferometric detection of broad gap vortices.

Physical Review A•Aug 15, 2006•22 citations
We consider a method of sub-wavelength superlocalization and patterning of atomic matter waves via a two dimensional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (2D STIRAP) process. An atom initially prepared in its ground level interacts with a doughnut-shaped optical vortex pump beam and a traveling wave Stokes laser beam with a constant (top-hat) intensity profile in space. The beams are sent in a counter-intuitive temporal sequence, in which the Stokes pulse precedes the pump pulse. The atoms interacting with both the traveling wave and the vortex beam are transferred to a final state through the 2D STIRAP, while those located at the core of the vortex beam remain in the initial state, creating a super-narrow nanometer scale atomic spot in the spatial distribution of ground state atoms. By numerical simulations we show that the 2D STIRAP approach outperforms the established method of coherent population trapping, yielding much stronger confinement of atomic excitation. Numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation show that using such a method one can create 2D bright and dark solitonic structures in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The method allows one to circumvent the restriction set by the diffraction limit inherent to conventional methods for formation of localized solitons, with a full control over the position and size of nanometer resolution defects.
We examine a scheme for the optical creation of a superfluid vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, using the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage technique (STIRAP). By exposing an oblate, axis-symmetric condensate to two copropagating laser pulses, one can transfer external angular momentum from the light field to the matter wave, if one of the beams is the fundamental Gaussian mode and the other is a Gauss-Laguerre mode of angular momentum $1\ensuremath{\hbar}$. We demonstrate the complete transfer efficiency by numerical integration of the multicomponent Gross-Pitaevskii equation and explain the results with an intuitive and accurate approximation within the Thomas-Fermi limit. In addition, we discuss residual excitations (breathing modes) which occur in the two-dimensional regime and present the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum.
We experimentally demonstrate subwavelength spatial confinement of optical excitation using variants of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in a Pr 3 + : Y 2 SiO 5 crystal. Building on conventional STIRAP, we implement two more advanced schemes, double STIRAP and tripod STIRAP, which enable enhanced spatial control. At the cost of reduced coherence, double STIRAP provides an almost twofold improvement in resolution compared with conventional STIRAP, which already enables localization nearly two orders of magnitude below the pump beam waist. To resolve such fine structures near the diffraction limit, we employ an autocorrelation-based measurement technique. With this setup, we demonstrate excitation confinement by conventional STIRAP down to 260 ± 40 nm , thus achieving subwavelength localization. As another powerful variant of adiabatic passage, we apply tripod STIRAP using an additional donut-shaped control beam that suppresses population transfer outside the beam center via coherent population trapping. With tripod STIRAP, we generate excitations as narrow as 350 ± 40 nm , a factor of 28 below the width of the driving control beam. We demonstrate the scalability of the method by preparing tightly packed grids with up to 41 excitation spots without crosstalk, making the method well-suited for quantum architectures. Our results establish STIRAP variants as robust, versatile tools for coherent, spatially selective optical excitation on a subwavelength scale, opening broad applications in quantum technologies and classical optics.
We examine a scheme for the optical creation of a superfluid vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), using the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) technique. By exposing an oblate, axis-symmetric condensate to two co-propagating laser pulses, one can transfer external angular momentum from the light field to the matter wave, if one of the beams is the fundamental Gaussian mode and the other is a Gauss-Laguerre mode of angular momentum 1ℏ1\hbar1ℏ. We demonstrate the complete transfer efficiency by numerical integration of the multi-component Gross-Pitaevskii equation and explain the results with an intuitive and accurate approximation within the Thomas-Fermi limit. In addition, we discuss residual excitations (breathing modes) which occur in the two-dimensional regime and present the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum.
Abstract We experimentally demonstrate spatial confinement of atomic excitation by adiabatic passage processes in a rare-earth ion-doped Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal. In particular, we apply stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and compare its performance with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Using a Stokes beam with Gaussian and a pump beam with donut shape we localize the atomic population in the zero-intensity center of the latter. Our data confirm that adiabatic passage confines excitation far below the diameter of the driving laser beams, and that this localization rapidly increases with laser intensity. We find, that STIRAP significantly outperforms EIT, as it was predicted by previous theory proposals, i.e., STIRAP reaches small excitation volumes with much lower laser intensity. The experimental data agree very well with numerical simulations. The findings serve as a step towards new applications for STIRAP, to prepare excitation regions or population patterns in space with large resolution.
We propose a single-site addressing implementation based on the subwavelength localization via adiabatic passage (SLAP) technique. We consider a sample of ultracold neutral atoms loaded into a two-dimensional optical lattice with one atom per site. Each atom is modeled by a three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ system in interaction with a pump and a Stokes laser pulse. Using a pump field with a node in its spatial profile, the atoms at all sites are transferred from one ground state of the system to the other via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, except the one at the position of the node that remains in the initial ground state. This technique allows for the preparation, manipulation, and detection of atoms with a spatial resolution better than the diffraction limit, which either relaxes the requirements on the optical setup used or extends the achievable spatial resolution to lattice spacings smaller than accessible to date. In comparison to techniques based on coherent population trapping, SLAP gives a higher addressing resolution and has additional advantages such as robustness against parameter variations, coherence of the transfer process, and the absence of photon induced recoil. Additionally, the advantages of our proposal with respect to adiabatic spin-flip techniques are highlighted. Analytic expressions for the achievable addressing resolution and efficiency are derived and compared to numerical simulations for 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms in state-of-the-art optical lattices.
We analyze numerically the process of dynamical generation of spatially localized vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC's) with repulsive atomic interactions confined by two-dimensional optical lattices. Akin to bright solitons in a repulsive condensate, these nonlinear localized states exist only within the gaps of the matter-wave band-gap spectrum imposed by the periodicity of the lattice potential. We discuss the complex structure of matter-wave phase singularities associated with different types of stationary gap vortices and suggest two different excitation methods. In one method, the condensate is adiabatically driven to the edge of the Brillouin zone where a vortex phase is subsequently imprinted onto the condensate wave packet. Alternatively, a vortex is created in a condensate confined in a harmonic trap and then is nonadiabatically released into the lattice potential. We find that only the latter method leads to robust and reliable generation of vortices within the gap of the matter-wave band-gap spectrum. Moreover, the nonadiabatic excitation can lead to the formation of broad gap vortices from the initial BEC wave packets with a large number of atoms. These broad vortices are intimately connected to self-trapped nonlinear states of the BEC recently demonstrated in experiments with a one-dimensional optical lattice. Our numerical simulations also confirm the feasibility of a homodyne interferometric detection of broad gap vortices.