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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Dynamics of evanescent matter waves in negative-index media

M. Hamamda, Valerij Bočvarski, F Perales, J. Baudon, G. Dutier, Constantin Maïnos, M. Boustimi, M. Ducloy

Published Oct 12, 2010• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract\nnumbers: 03.75.-b Matter Waves 03.75.Be Atom and Neutron Optics 37.10.Gh Atom Traps and Guides 42.25.-p Wave Optics ABSTRACT Semi-evanescent and evanescent matter-waves produced by an atom wave packet impinging a repulsive barrier can be back-refracted and reconstructed by the application of negative-index " comoving " potential pulses. One shows that those collapses and revivals generate a matter wave confined on both sides of the barrier border (" surface matter wave ") and should be observable via the retardation of atom reflection from the barrier interface. This property, joined to the possibility recently demonstrated of inducing negative refraction of atom waves, makes such potentials a matter-wave counterpart of negative-index materials or " meta materials " well-known in light optics.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/43/21/215301

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Abstract\nnumbers: 03.75.-b Matter Waves 03.75.Be Atom and Neutron Optics 37.10.Gh Atom Traps and Guides 42.25.-p Wave Optics ABSTRACT Semi-evanescent and evanescent matter-waves produced by an atom wave packet impinging a repulsive barrier can be back-refracted and reconstructed by the application of negative-index " comoving " potential pulses. One shows that those collapses and revivals generate a matter wave confined on both sides of the barrier border (" surface matter wave ") and should be observable via the retardation of atom reflection from the barrier interface. This property, joined to the possibility recently demonstrated of inducing negative refraction of atom waves, makes such potentials a matter-wave counterpart of negative-index materials or " meta materials " well-known in light optics.
Evanescent matter-waves produced by an atom wave packet incident onto a repulsive barrier edge can be back-refracted and reconstructed by the application of negative-index "comoving" potential pulses. One shows that those collapses and revivals of evanescent matter waves give rise to surface matter waves and should be observable via atom reflection echoes issued from the barrier interface. This property, together with the property of inducing negative refraction, makes such potentials the matter-wave counterpart of negative-index materials in light optics.
In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 140403 (2009)], Baudon et al. reported that a comoving potential acting on atoms could mimic negative-index-refraction properties of left-handed photonic metamaterials. We show in this article that a better approximation is necessary in order to describe the real physical system proposed by Baudon et al. We derive analytical formulas and compare their solutions with numerical simulations. It turns out that instead of negative refraction, it is simply atomic reflection that occurs in the above-mentioned comoving potential. Furthermore, we find that the wave packet of the reflected atomic beam by comoving potentials can be narrowed by negative dispersion. Finally, we identify a potential configuration, near the interface with a cubic-type potential barrier, that may lead to the observation of negative refraction with incoherent matter waves.
We consider the extension of optical metamaterials to matter waves and then the down scaling of metaoptics to nanometric wavelengths. We show that the generic property of pulsed comoving magnetic fields allows us to fashion the wave-number dependence of the atomic phase shift. It can be used to produce a transient negative group velocity of an atomic wave packet, which results into a negative refraction of the matter wave. Application to slow metastable argon atoms Ar(3P2) shows that the device is able to operate either as an efficient beam splitter or an atomic metalens.
This work shows a novel class of newly introduced potentials called co-moving potentials, which can provide a simple solution to devise negative-index media for matter waves. These co-moving potentials or oscillating magnetic potentials can be made co-propagating with the atom wave by utilizing an adequate choice of spatial period and oscillation frequency.Novel applications in atom nano-lithography and interferometry and other properties of a negative-index medium for atom optics are also discussed.