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Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics

Coherent momentum transfer due to interaction between three-level atoms and counterpropagating laser pulses

V. I. Romanenko, Леонід Петрович Яценко

Published Feb 1, 2005• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A theoretical analysis is presented of the change in the momentum of a three-level atom due to its interaction with counterpropagating laser pulses that overlap in time. The two lower energy states of the atom are metastable; i.e., a lambda-type configuration of atomic levels is considered. The cases of two and four counterpropagating pulses having different carrier frequencies are considered. In the case of adiabatic atom-field interaction, it is shown that the atom’s momentum can change by an integer multiple of the photon momentum and the corresponding standard deviation is small as compared to the photon momentum squared.

DOI
10.1134/1.1884666

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A theoretical analysis is presented of the change in the momentum of a three-level atom due to its interaction with counterpropagating laser pulses that overlap in time. The two lower energy states of the atom are metastable; i.e., a lambda-type configuration of atomic levels is considered. The cases of two and four counterpropagating pulses having different carrier frequencies are considered. In the case of adiabatic atom-field interaction, it is shown that the atom’s momentum can change by an integer multiple of the photon momentum and the corresponding standard deviation is small as compared to the photon momentum squared.
We discuss the mechanical momentum transfer to two-level atoms by a pair of short, counterpropagating, frequency-chirped laser pulses, which partially overlap each other in the atomic medium. We show that such a pulse pair can induce a much greater change of momentum than pulses that do not overlap (interact separately with the atoms). The dispersive effect on the atomic velocity distribution is shown to be much smaller for the case of overlapping pulses. Furthermore, there are regimes where the method is not sensitive to the exact values of the pulse parameters or the initial velocity distribution. The interaction can be repeated for a cumulative effect, so a sequence of such pulse pairs can be used very effectively to manipulate the mechanical motion of atoms.
A theoretical analysis is presented of the effect of correlation between fluctuations of laser pulse amplitudes on population transfer between the states of a three-level atom coupled by the laser field. The carrier frequencies of the pulses are tuned to resonance with the transitions between the ground and excited states, |〈 and | 2〈, and the excited and metastable states, |2〈 and |3〈, in a lambda-type configuration. The laser pulses are timed so that population transfer between states |1〈 and | 3〈 is made possible by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in the absence of fluctuations. STIRAP does not occur when the laser fields are not correlated. When the fluctuations of one pulse amplitude duplicate those of the other, STIRAP can be observed for pulse amplitudes larger than those required in the absence of fluctuations.
The interaction of a two-level atom with two light pulses which have different carrier frequencies and propagate in opposite directions is studied in the adiabatic approximation. It is shown that when there is a delay between the light pulses, the momentum of the atom changes, as a result of the interaction with the laser field, by a definite amount that depends on the amplitude of the light pulses and on the difference of their carrier frequencies. It is predicted that the momentum transfer to the atom is a step function of the amplitude of the light pulses.
We study the force exerted on two-level atoms by short, counterpropagating laser pulses. When the counterpropagating pulses overlap each other partially, multiphoton adiabatic processes are possible in several configurations, which amplify the force exerted on the atoms. We investigate the practical usefulness of such multiphoton adiabatic transitions for the manipulation of the atoms' mechanical state. In particular, we compare the efficiency of a pair of constant frequency, oppositely detuned laser pulses and that of a pair of frequency-chirped pulses. We also consider the case of prolonged exposure to a sequence of laser pulses for a duration that is comparable to or much larger than the spontaneous lifetime of the atoms. We use numerical methods to calculate the reduction of the force and the heating of the atomic ensemble when spontaneous emission cannot be neglected during the interaction. In addition, we derive simple approximate formulas for the force and the heating, and compare them to the numerical results.
We study the propagation of frequency-chirped laser pulses in optically thick media. We consider a medium of atoms with a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ level-scheme (Lambda atoms) and also, for comparison, a medium of two-level atoms. Frequency-chirped laser pulses that induce adiabatic population transfer between the atomic levels are considered. They induce transitions between the two lower (metastable) levels of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-atoms and between the ground and excited states of the two-level atoms. We show that associated with this adiabatic population transfer in $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-atoms, there is a regime of enhanced transparency of the medium---the pulses are distorted much less than in the medium of two-level atoms and retain their ability to transfer the atomic population much longer during propagation.
The interaction of a pair of copropagating pulses with three-level \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type atoms is discussed in terms of time-dependent coupled and decoupled superpositions \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}〉 of the lower levels. Due to the explicit time dependence of these states there is a nonadiabatic coupling between the ``bright'' state \ensuremath{\Vert}+〉 and the ``dark'' state \ensuremath{\Vert}-〉 in addition to the strong coupling between \ensuremath{\Vert}+〉 and the upper level \ensuremath{\Vert}a〉 . We show that under quasiadiabatic conditions and in the presence of decay from the upper level this coupling can be treated perturbatively and the Maxwell-Bloch equations can be solved analytically. With the help of such a perturbation approach, coherent population transfer and formstable laser pulse propagation are studied. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.