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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

Collective light forces on atoms in a high-finesse cavity

Peter Maunz, Thomas H. Fischer, Thomas Puppe, Pepijn W. H. Pinkse

Published Nov 13, 2002• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. We investigate the motion of atoms in a cavity. For strong coupling, the back-action of an atom on the intra-cavity light field is large. In particular, the motion of an atom changes the amplitude of the fight field inside the cavity, which in turn changes the force on the atom, thereby influencing its motion.
DOI
10.1109/qels.2001.961902

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A Bose–Einstein condensate is dispersively coupled to a single mode of an ultra-high finesse optical cavity. The system is governed by strong interactions between the atomic motion and the light field even at the level of single quanta. While coherently pumping the cavity mode the condensate is subject to the cavity optical lattice potential whose depth depends nonlinearly on the atomic density distribution. We observe optical bistability already below the single photon level and strong back-action dynamics which tunes the coupled system periodically out of resonance.
We investigate mechanical forces on single atoms in a high-finesse optical cavity containing less than one photon on average. We count the number of atoms strongly coupled to the cavity mode close to an antinode and measure the intensity autocorrelation function of the pump light transmitted through the cavity. Distinct features are observed and attributed to the dipole force, diffusion, and velocity-dependent force, as predicted by the work of Horak et al. Our data agree well with the results of a Monte Carlo simulation.
Cavity optomechanics studies the coupling between a mechanical oscillator and the electromagnetic field in a cavity. We report on a cavity optomechanical system in which a collective density excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate serves as the mechanical oscillator coupled to the cavity field. A few photons inside the ultrahigh-finesse cavity trigger strongly driven back-action dynamics, in quantitative agreement with a cavity optomechanical model. We approach the strong coupling regime of cavity optomechanics, where a single excitation of the mechanical oscillator substantially influences the cavity field. The results open up new directions for investigating mechanical oscillators in the quantum regime and the border between classical and quantum physics.