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Physical Review A

Dynamics of an atomic wave packet in a standing-wave cavity field: A cavity-assisted single-atom detection

Young-Tak Chough, Sun-Hyun Youn, Hyunchul Nha, Sanguk Kim, Kyungwon An

Published Jan 11, 2002• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the single-atom detection system using an optical standing-wave cavity, from the viewpoint of the quantized center-of-mass motion of the atomic wave packet. We show that since the atom-field coupling strength depends upon the overlap integral of the atomic wave packet and the field mode function, the effect of the wave-packet spreading via the momentum exchange process brings about a significant effect in the detection efficiency. We find that, as a result, the detection efficiency is not sensitive to the individual atomic trajectory for reasonably slow atoms. We also address an interesting phenomenon of the atomic wave-packet splitting occurring when an atom passes through a node of the cavity field.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.65.023810

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We investigate the single-atom detection system using an optical standing-wave cavity, from the viewpoint of the quantized center-of-mass motion of the atomic wave packet. We show that since the atom-field coupling strength depends upon the overlap integral of the atomic wave packet and the field mode function, the effect of the wave-packet spreading via the momentum exchange process brings about a significant effect in the detection efficiency. We find that, as a result, the detection efficiency is not sensitive to the individual atomic trajectory for reasonably slow atoms. We also address an interesting phenomenon of the atomic wave-packet splitting occurring when an atom passes through a node of the cavity field.
We present an in-depth study on the behavior of an atomic wave packet which is placed in a standing wave cavity prepared in various states of light. We extract a simple classical oscillator model out of the dynamics of the quantum system. We quantitatively resolve the states of the spatially reorganized wave packet by the dressed state spatial probability distribution functions we developed. We also report a novel type of the “quantum collapse and revival” behavior of the Rabi nutation which is originated from the effect of the quantized atomic center-of-mass motion on the atomic internal motion.
We solve the spontaneous-emission problem for an atom coupled to a standing-wave cavity mode. The interaction between the atom and the cavity mode is treated nonperturbatively with the quantized motion of the atom along the cavity axis included. Results are presented for the spontaneous-emission spectrum and the final momentum distribution of the atom. For equal atomic and cavity linewidths analytical results are obtained using a Bloch-state basis (eigenstates of the coupled atom and cavity mode); these are compared with results calculated in the Raman-Nath approximation. The case of unequal linewidths may be solved numerically using the eigenstates of the uncoupled atom and cavity mode as a basis, or analytically by making a secular approximation in the Bloch-state basis. The distribution of final atomic momentum shows that under strong-coupling conditions the atom is diffracted by its radiation reaction field. We compare the spontaneous emission spectra with spectra calculated by treating the motion of the atom classically. Generally there is good agreement when the classical results are averaged over the quantum-mechanical uncertainty in the initial position of the atom. The agreement is lost for sufficiently strong dipole coupling or sufficiently light atoms. Then, spectra that are symmetric in the classical treatment are asymmetric in the quantum treatment due to energy exchange between the internal degrees of freedom and center-of-mass degrees of freedom of the atom.
We consider propagation of a two-level atom coupled to one electromagnetic mode of a high-QQQ cavity. The atomic center-of-mass motion is treated quantum mechanically and we use a standing wave shape for the mode. The periodicity of the Hamiltonian leads to a spectrum consisting of bands and gaps, which is studied from a Floquet point of view. Based on the band theory, we introduce a set of effective mass parameters that approximately describe the effect of the cavity on the atomic motion, with the emphasis on one associated with the group velocity and on another one that coincides with the conventional effective mass. Propagation of initially Gaussian wave packets is also studied using numerical simulations and the mass parameters extracted thereof are compared with those predicted by the Floquet theory. Scattering and transmission of the wave packet against the cavity are further analyzed, and the constraints for the effective mass approach to be valid are discussed in detail.
A quantum analysis is presented of the motion and internal state of a two-level atom in a strong standing-wave light field. Coherent evolution of the atomic wave-packet, atomic dipole moment, and population inversion strongly depends on the ratio between the detuning from atom-field resonance and a characteristic atomic frequency. In the basis of dressed states, atomic motion is represented as wave-packet motion in two effective optical potentials. At exact resonance, coherent population trapping is observed when an atom with zero momentum is centered at a standing-wave node. When the detuning is comparable to the characteristic atomic frequency, the atom crossing a node may or may not undergo a transition between the potentials with probabilities that are similar in order of magnitude. In this detuning range, atomic wave packets proliferate at the nodes of the standing wave. This phenomenon is interpreted as a quantum manifestation of chaotic transport of classical atoms observed in earlier studies. For a certain detuning range, there exists an interval of initial momentum values such that the atom simultaneously oscillates in an optical potential well and moves as a ballistic particle. This behavior of a wave packet is a quantum analog of a classical random walk of an atom, when it enters and leaves optical potential wells in a seemingly irregular manner and freely moves both ways in a periodic standing light wave. In a far-detuned field, the transition probability between the potentials is low, and adiabatic wave-packet evolution corresponding to regular classical motion of an atom is observed.
We use a basis of Bloch wave functions to solve the problem of spontaneous emission from an atom inside a standing-wave cavity. In this way we incorporate the effects of the atom’s quantized center-mass-motion in the periodic light-force potential of the one-quantum dressed states during the spontaneous emission process. We calculate emission spectra and the momentum distribution of the atom. Under strong-coupling conditions, “vacuum” Rabi spectra become asymmetric, with an increased relative weight given to the red side of the spectrum because of the transfer of energy to the center-of-mass motion of the atom. Because of the nonperturbative interaction between the atom and the cavity mode, many momentum quanta are transferred to the atom from the cavity mirrors during the irreversible emission of just one photon. Thus, the atom is diffracted by its own radiation reaction field. We analyze these effects using the Bloch-state basis. Use of the secular approximation provides a simple rate equation description of transitions from the Bloch states excited in the initial state to the atom-cavity ground state. We compare this approach with other ways of doing the calculations and discuss the accuracy of the secular approximation. We consider the extension of these calculations to treat the effects of photon statistics on the momentum distribution of atoms traversing a standing-wave cavity.