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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Controlled atom dynamics in a double-well optical lattice

Marco Anderlini, Jennifer Sebby-Strabley, J. Kruse, J. V. Porto, William D. Phillips

Published May 2, 2006• 66 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on the experimental demonstration of dynamic control of the motional state of atoms in a 2D double-well optical lattice. First we describe experiments in which the atomic distributions obtained by loading Bose–Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms in the lattice are dynamically split by transforming a 2D lattice with period λ into a 2D lattice with period λ/2, and we show how this procedure allows for the study of the coherence and interaction properties of the system. Then we show how we can efficiently adiabatically transfer the population between adjacent sites of the lattice, as well as between different energy bands, by using dynamic modifications of the potential.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/39/10/s19

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We have performed a number of experiments with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Making use of the small momentum spread of a BEC and standard atom optics techniques, a high level of coherent control over an artificial solid-state system is demonstrated. We are able to load the BEC into the lattice ground state with a very high efficiency by adiabatically turning on the optical lattice. We coherently transfer population between lattice states and observe their evolution. Methods are developed and used to perform band spectroscopy. We use these techniques to build a BEC accelerator and a novel, coherent, large-momentum-transfer beam-splitter.
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We study the splitting of a harmonically trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate when we continuously turn up an optical lattice (or a double-well) potential. As the lattice height is increased, quantum fluctuations of atoms are enhanced. The resulting nonequilibrium dynamics of the fragmentation process of the condensate, the loss of the phase coherence of atoms along the lattice, and the reduced atom number fluctuations in individual lattice sites are stochastically studied within the truncated Wigner approximation. We perform a detailed study of the effects of temperature and lattice height on atom dynamics, and investigate the validity of the classical Gross-Pitaevskii equation in optical lattices. We find the atom number squeezing to saturate in deep lattices due to nonadiabaticity in turning up of the lattice potential that is challenging to avoid in experiments when the occupation number of the lattice sites is large, making it difficult to produce strongly number squeezed (or the Mott insulator) states with large filling factors. We also investigate some general numerical properties of the truncated Wigner approximation.
Matter waves inside periodic potentials are well known from solid-state physics, where electrons interacting with a crystal lattice are considered. Atomic Bose-Einstein condensates inside light-induced periodic potentials (optical lattices) share many features with electrons in solids, but also with light waves in nonlinear materials and other nonlinear systems. Generally, atom-atom interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates lead to rich and interesting nonlinear effects. Furthermore, the experimental control over the parameters of the periodic potential and the condensate make it possible to enter regimes inaccessible in other systems. In this review, an introduction to the physics of ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices is given and an overview of the theoretical and experimental advances to date.
We describe the design and implementation of a two-dimensional optical lattice of double wells suitable for isolating and manipulating an array of individual pairs of atoms in an optical lattice. Atoms in the square lattice can be placed in a double well with any of their four nearest neighbors. The properties of the double well (the barrier height and relative energy offset of the paired sites) can be dynamically controlled. The topology of the lattice is phase stable against phase noise imparted by vibrational noise on mirrors. We demonstrate the dynamic control of the lattice by showing the coherent splitting of atoms from single wells into double wells and observing the resulting double-slit atom diffraction pattern. This lattice can be used to test controlled neutral atom motion among lattice sites and should allow for testing controlled two-qubit gates.
Bose-Einstein condensation can be observed with e.g. ultracold atomic gases, polaritons, and since about a decade ago also with low-dimensional photon gases [1]. Cold atomic gases in lattice potentials are usually prepared following the creation of a condensate by transferring it into the periodic potential, while in recent work with photon gases direct condensation into a coherently split state of light has been realized [2]. Here we report on experimental work directed at realizing thermalized photon gases in periodic potentials of increased complexibility, i.e. beyond a double well.