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Physical Review A

Oscillatory dynamics in light-induced drift

Faris Gel’mukhanov, Gerard Nienhuis, Timofei Privalov

Published Sep 1, 1994• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The light-induced drift velocity of optically active atoms immersed in a buffer gas sometimes changes sign at some temperature. It is pointed out that the density of the active atoms and the temperature of the system form a nonlinear dynamical system that may exhibit instabilities. These may show up as an oscillatory behavior of these quantities as a function of time. A possible realization in the case of alkali-metal atoms is discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.50.2445

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The light-induced drift velocity of optically active atoms immersed in a buffer gas sometimes changes sign at some temperature. It is pointed out that the density of the active atoms and the temperature of the system form a nonlinear dynamical system that may exhibit instabilities. These may show up as an oscillatory behavior of these quantities as a function of time. A possible realization in the case of alkali-metal atoms is discussed.
A new light-induced drift effect is discussed in which a white-light source separates a gas mixture containing a single optically active (absorbing) species and a buffer gas which does not interact with the light. A three-level model with one upper level and two closely spaced lower levels is used for the active atoms, and strong collisions with the more abundant surrounding buffer gas atoms are assumed. The intensity spectrum in the vapor (including the effects of hyperfine pumping), and the resulting drift velocity are calculated as a function of optical depth into the vapor.
We derive a general diffusion equation for the density of an atomic vapor immersed in a buffer gas and irradiated by nearly resonant light. The combination of velocity-selective excitation with state-dependent rates of velocity-changing collisions then gives rise to a drift term, and at the same time the diffusion tensor becomes anisotropic and intensity dependent. Both the effect of light-induced drift and diffusive pulling of atoms by the light are described by this diffusion equation in a consistent and correlated fashion.
Conventional light-induced drift is based on purely elastic velocity-changing collisions. The authors discuss qualitatively the potentialities of light-induced drift originating from inelastic velocity-changing collisions, which may occur in a molecular buffer gas. In such collisions a large fraction of the electronic excitation energy of the absorbing particle may be transformed into kinetic energy thus affecting light-induced drift. The authors report experiments on light-induced drift of Na in various molecular buffer gases and compare these with their predictions.
Abstract : The effect of light-induced drift (LID) in gases, predicted by Gel'mukhanov and Shalagin and observed later, is manifested in mechanical drift of the absorbing atoms (molecules) in response to optical excitation. The effect of LID takes place if the atom interaction with light is velocity-dependent (due to the Doppler effect), the spectrum of the exciting radiation is asymmetric with respect to the the absorption line, and the absorbing molecules experience collisions with a buffer gas, with the collision rate dependent upon their internal state. The idea of LID is the following. Suppose for the sake of definiteness that the collision frequency of the absorbing molecules with the buffer is greater in the excited state and that the exciting light is red-shifted with respect to the absorption contour. Then due to the Doppler shift, the radiation interacts mainly with the counter-moving molecules, which undergo transitions into an excited state, in which their friction upon the buffer component is increased. Due to this increase, the counter-flying molecules are slowed down, while the molecules moving in the direction of light are not affected. The net effect is a drift of the absorbing component in the direction of light. The drift alternates its direction with the change of signs of either the detaining or the difference in the collision frequencies.