Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference
Application of quantum control theory to manipulate the Zeeman states of an atom
Daniel J. Heinzen, G. Xu
Abstract
Summary form only given. We present experimental results that demonstrate a high degree of control over the spin state of an atom. The experiment is carried out on a sample of about 10/sup 7/ laser-cooled /sup 133/Cs atoms in their F=4 ground state hyperfine level released from a magneto-optical trap. Our method is to apply a static magnetic field B/sub 0/, a time-dependent transverse magnetic field B/sub x/(t), and a linearly polarized off-resonance laser field to the atoms. The Hamiltonian is H=-/spl mu//spl middot/B(t)+ M/sup 2//spl omega//sub E/|M><M|, where B(t)=B/sub 0/z+B/sub x/(t)x. B/sub 0/ induces a precession of the spins at the Larmor frequency /spl omega//sub L/=/spl mu//sub B/B/4/spl planck/. The second term in H arises from the laser field light shift; together with the static field B/sub 0/ it yields a finite anharmonic ladder of quantum states, labeled by the spin projection quantum number M=-F,...,F. Because of the anharmonicity, B/sub x/(t) induces motions of the spin that are not simply rotations of the initial state. Rather, through the application of quantum control theory, it is possible to find a pulse B/sub x/(t) that produces time evolution connecting arbitrary spin states.