Reflection of a Slow Atom by a Cavity

V. I. Balykin, Vladilen S Letokhov

Berthold‐Georg Englert, Julian Schwinger, A. O. Barut +1 more

Excited atoms incident upon the entrance port of a maser cavity will be reflected half of the time, if the atoms are slow enough, even when the maser field is in its vacuum state. This happens because the interaction strength, between the atom and the maser field, changes strongly when passing from the exterior to the interior of the cavity.

J. D. Close, Rachel Poldy, B. C. Buchler +1 more

S. Haroche, M. Brune, J. M. Raimond

We analyse the force on an atom resonantly coupled to the vacuum field in a high-Q microwave cavity. The atom is prepared in the upper level of the atomic transition coupled to the cavity mode. The force results from the reversible exchange of a single excitation between the atom and the cavity. It derives from a potential which reflects the spatial variations of the r.m.s. vacuum field inside the cavity. Depending upon the atom-cavity dressed state into which the system is prepared, this potential presents either a maximum or a minimum at the point where vacuum fluctuations are largest. Very slow circular Rydberg atoms may be reflected back as they enter the cavity, or trapped around cavity centre.

M. Dovale Álvarez

T.G. Aardema, R. M. S. Knops, S. P. L. Nijsten +3 more

We have demonstrated the slowing of a beam of cold (180 K) metastable neon atoms in a diffuse reflecting cylindrical cavity with monochromatic light. Using a well-collimated atomic beam entering the cavity, it is shown that stimulated emission has a major effect on the transverse velocity distribution. A large saturation parameter $s$ results in a loss mechanism for the center line beam intensity. A Monte Carlo simulation shows that the light intensity should be evenly distributed with moderate saturation conditions, to optimize the slowing effect while minimizing the transverse diffusion.