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Physical Review A

Wannier-Stark ladders in driven optical lattices

Markus Glück, Marlies Hankel, Andrey R. Kolovsky, H. J. Korsch

Published May 2, 2000• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The paper studies the effect of a weak periodic driving on metastable Wannier-Stark states. The decay rate of the ground Wannier-Stark states as a continuous function of the driving frequency is calculated numerically. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data of Wilkinson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4512 (1996)] obtained for cold sodium atoms in an accelerated optical lattice.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.61.061402

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The paper studies the effect of a weak periodic driving on metastable Wannier-Stark states. The decay rate of the ground Wannier-Stark states as a continuous function of the driving frequency is calculated numerically. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data of Wilkinson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4512 (1996)] obtained for cold sodium atoms in an accelerated optical lattice.
Periodic Wannier–Stark ladder structures of the energy resonances associated with Bloch oscillations can be readily modified into quasi-periodic ones that exhibit peculiar self-similar effects. A compact theoretical description of the dynamics of driven Bloch oscillations is developed here within the quasi-momentum representation. We identify a rather viable scheme based on ultracold atomic wavepackets subject to gravity in a driven optical lattice potential where a self-similar scaling could be observed. Its feasibility in terms of realistic experimental parameters is also discussed.
The dynamics of cold Bose atoms in driven tilted optical lattices is analyzed focusing on destruction of Wannier-Stark localization and the phenomenon of band collapse. It is argued that an understanding of the experimental results requires thorough account for interaction effects. These are suppression of the ballistic spreading of atoms for resonant driving (a multiple of the driving frequency coincides with the Bloch frequency) and unbounded sub-diffusive spreading of atoms for off-resonant driving.
We report an experimental study of the Wannier-Stark fan and the fractional Wannier-Stark ladder using laser-cooled sodium atoms in an accelerating one-dimensional standing wave of light. We prepare the atoms in the lowest motional band of the optical lattice and then impose a constant acceleration. A weak oscillatory component is added to the acceleration in order to resonantly drive interband transitions, and the number of atoms that remain in the lowest band is measured as a function of the probe frequency. The spectrum is characterized by a ladder of resonances spaced by the atomic Bloch oscillation frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{B}.$ When an additional, strong ac component at frequency $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ is added, a fractional ladder is observed with a spacing related to the electric matching ratio $\ensuremath{\Omega}/{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{B}.$
We report the first observation of atomic Wannier-Stark ladders in a potential formed by an accelerating standing wave of light.1 This is a fundamental effect of quantum transport in optical lattices. Wannier-Stark ladder resonances were predicted to occur in the band structure of an electron moving in a periodic lattice with a dc electric field, and have been recently observed in superlattices. Our work is the first spectroscopic study of Wannier-Stark ladders free from complications such as the impurities, lattice vibrations, and multi-particle interactions present in solids.