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Physical Review A

Versatile element for free-space dividing and redirecting neutral-atom clouds

Ilya Arakelyan, Narupon Chattrapiban, Sambit Mitra, W. T. Hill

Published Jun 15, 2007• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We introduce a tunnel lock that can be exploited to divide, delay, and alter the direction of traveling clouds of cold atoms. This versatile free-space element is implemented by crossing two atom tunnels formed by low-intensity, blue-detuned dark-hollow (Bessel mode) laser beams. We show that clouds of cold Rb atoms initially moving within one tunnel can be transferred to the other without heating by gating the intensities of the two tunnels---a tunnel lock---with an efficiency limited by the overlap volume. The element also can be used to divide a single cloud into smaller clouds, each having a distinct momentum.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.061604

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•Jan 1, 1999•1 citation
We introduce a tunnel lock that can be exploited to divide, delay, and alter the direction of traveling clouds of cold atoms. This versatile free-space element is implemented by crossing two atom tunnels formed by low-intensity, blue-detuned dark-hollow (Bessel mode) laser beams. We show that clouds of cold Rb atoms initially moving within one tunnel can be transferred to the other without heating by gating the intensities of the two tunnels---a tunnel lock---with an efficiency limited by the overlap volume. The element also can be used to divide a single cloud into smaller clouds, each having a distinct momentum.
In this dissertation we report the results of two experimental projects with laser-cooled rubidium atoms: I. Application of Bessel beams for atom optics, and II. Spectroscopic measurements of Rydberg blockade effect. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the development of new elements of atom optics based on blue-detuned high-order Bessel beams. Properties of a 4th order Bessel beam as an atomic guide were investigated for various parameters of the hollow beam, such as the detuning from an atomic resonance, size and the order of the Bessel beam. We extended its application to create more complicated interferometer-type structures by demonstrating a tunnel lock, a novel device that can split an atomic cloud, transport it, delay, and switch its propagation direction between two guides. We reported a first-time demonstration of an atomic beam switch based on the combination of two crossed Bessel beams. We achieved the 30% efficiency of the switch limited by the geometrical overlap between the cloud and the intersection volume of the two tunnels, and investigate the heating processes induced by the switch. We also showed other applications of crossed Bessel beams, such as a 3-D optical trap for atoms confined in the intersection volume of two hollow beams and a splitter of the atomic density. The second part of this dissertation is devoted to the spectroscopic measurements of the Rydberg blockade effect, a conditional suppression of Rydberg excitations depending on the state of a control atom. We assembled a narrow-linewidth, tunable, frequency stabilized laser system at 480 nm to excite laser-cooled rubidium atoms to Rydberg states with a high principal quantum number n ~ 50 through a two-photon transition. We applied the laser system to observe the Autler-Townes splitting of the intermediate 5p state and used the broadening of the resonance features to investigate the enhancement of Rydberg-Rydberg interactions in the presence of an external electric field.
Summary form only given. One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When detuned blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core of the beam where they can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. Dark hollow beams show promise for long distance transport of large numbers of ultra cold atoms, making them a strong competitor with hollow-core fiber atom guides. In this presentation we describe a simple way to construct an all-light atom tunnel with a series of axicons and a moderately powered diode laser beam.
The main objectives of this thesis were to create and investigate properties and applications of all-optical atomic guides, which are potential building blocks for atom optics experiments. Specifically, we investigated experimentally and theoretically the evolution of the transverse and longitudinal atomic distributions in blue-detuned Bessel tunnels. These tunnels provide confining potentials that are comparable to or higher than the average kinetic energy of cold hundreds of microKelvin) ensembles. The new work highlighted in this thesis include investigations of the following: 1) the generation of Bessel beams using a 2D spatial light modulator (SLM) (both experimental measurement and numerical simulations were performed), 2) the efficiency of the SLM for converting light from a Gaussian beam to a Bessel beam, 3) the behavior of several propagating structures that might be useful for guiding atoms, 4) the atom-tunnel dynamics, 5) an atom switch and delay line (along with measurements of the switch efficiency), and 6) the single-mode propagation in an idealized tunnel. To the best of our knowledge, the work in this thesis constitutes the first time that (1) an atom switch and a delay line have been demonstrated using blue detuned unnels and (2) the atom-tunnel dynamics and thephase-space distribution of a non-interacting dilute gas in a non-equilibrium state has been tracked experimentally.
The longitudinal and transverse evolution of thermal clouds have been studied experimentally and theoretically in blue-detuned hollow tunnels. Tunnels based on axicon generation and holographic phase-mask generation have been investigated. A simple model is presented that (1) accounts for longitudinal acceleration and (2) shows that a cloud confined in a tunnel with a potential having a Bessel mode distribution will absorb fewer photons than it would confined in a comparable tunnel with a Laguerre-Gaussian mode distribution. The longitudinal and transverse profiles are fit to analytical distributions functions from which we extract transverse and longitudinal temperatures of the cloud. We find the two temperatures to be very different, with the transverse temperature being as much as five times colder. Finally, we studied the energy level structure within a Bessel potential theoretically and found that single-mode propagation is possible.
One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When the frequency of the laser is detuned to the blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core where the atoms can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. The ability of the all-light atom guides to transport large number of ultracold atoms for long distances without physical walls leads to the possibility of a versatile tool for atom lithography, atom interferometry, atomic spectroscopy as well as for transporting and manipulating Bose-Einstein condensates. Furthermore since the atoms transported in all-light atom guides do not come into contact with matter, they can in principle be used to transport antimatter as well. In this work a hollow beam atom tunnel is demonstrated by guiding magneto-optically trapped ultracold cesium atoms with a hollow core laser beam. The 1mm diameter diffractionless hollow beam used to construct the atom tunnel was generated from a TEM00 mode diode laser at 852 nm using a series of axicons and simple lenses. The axicon generated hollow beam has a dark core extended for most of its diameter and