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Physical Review A

Light forces in two crossed standing waves with controlled time-phase difference

Andreas Hemmerich, D. Schropp, Theodor W. Hänsch

Published Aug 1, 1991• 48 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the interaction of a collimated thermal rubidium beam with a two-dimensional intense standing wave generated in the intersection area of the ${\mathrm{TEM}}_{00}$ modes of two mutually orthogonal linear optical resonators. The relative time-phase difference of the two resonator modes was controlled. We observe transverse confinement of the atoms in the node or antinode structure of the standing wave and a deflection of the atoms after their passage through the light field. In both cases the time-phase difference can be identified as an important parameter for the kinematics of the interaction process between atoms and standing waves. Our experimental data are in qualitative agreement with the results of a Monte Carlo simulation based on a two-level atom.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.44.1910

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We have experimentally studied the interaction of a collimated thermal rubidium beam with a two-dimensional intense standing wave generated in the intersection area of the TEM00{\mathrm{TEM}}_{00}TEM00​ modes of two mutually orthogonal linear optical resonators. The relative time-phase difference of the two resonator modes was controlled. We observe transverse confinement of the atoms in the node or antinode structure of the standing wave and a deflection of the atoms after their passage through the light field. In both cases the time-phase difference can be identified as an important parameter for the kinematics of the interaction process between atoms and standing waves. Our experimental data are in qualitative agreement with the results of a Monte Carlo simulation based on a two-level atom.
We have observed the vibrational levels of rubidium atoms spatially confined in two dimensions by two crossed optical standing waves (oriented along the x and y axes) with mutually orthogonal linear polarization (in the x-y plane). When the two standing waves oscillate with a 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} time phase delay, the atoms are confined by dipole forces to the intensity maxima forming a two-dimensional collimated array of linear de Broglie waveguides, spaced by half an optical wavelength. When the standing waves oscillate in phase no vibrational energy structure can be observed.
Atoms moving in an intense, near resonant standing wave (SW) experience a force along the direction of the SW. This force has been investigated by observing its effect on the transverse velocities of atoms in a thermal beam. When the standing wave is tuned above resonance the atomic beam is collimated and has an increased intensity at the center of the beam. Below resonance, the SW anti-collimates the atomic beam, reducing the central intensity. These effects are due to the interaction between the induced atomic dipole and the inhomogeneous field of the SW. Further investigation shows structure in the transverse velocity distribution of the atomic beam. This structure is due to multiphoton (Doppleron) resonances in the force. Calculations reproduce the dipole force and multiphoton resonance effects and are in good agreement with the data.
The interaction of a beam of two level atoms with a standing wave laser field has been the subject of extensive investigation in recent times. A standing wave perpendicular to an atomic beam allows the manipulation of the transverse velocity distribution. The interaction of an atomic beam with a strong standing wave laser field has been systematically investigated by both theoretical simulation and experiment in this thesis. We have developed a numerical model based on a continued fraction solution for the light pressure forces to simulate the near perpendicular interaction of an atomic beam with a strong standing wave laser field. The reshaping of the transverse spatial profile of an atomic beam by a perpendicular, near resonant, standing wave laser field is investigated for red detunings using a longitudinal velocity selective detection system. The experimental dependence of the reshaped profile on the longitudinal and transverse atomic velocities agrees well with a continued fraction solution for the light force. In particular, a regime is found where channelling of the atoms near the antinodes of the standing wave produces a central peak in the spatial distribution of the atomic beam in the far field which have also been observed elsewhere.
We investigate to which extent the quantum nature of light modifies laser-induced atomic beam deflection in a plane standing wave. Our model considers a single two-level atom interacting with a single quantized standing wave mode of the electromagnetic field. We neglect spontaneous emission into other field modes, an approximation valid for short enough times. We find that there is an essential qualitative difference between the cases of a coherent field and a thermal field. For a coherent field, the atomic momentum distribution after interaction has two symmetric peaks on the wings and resembles the semiclassical result of Arimondo et al. [Phys. Rev. A 24, 898 (1981)]. For a thermal field, this distribution has its maximum at p = 0. It is characterized by a constant contribution at p = 0, some sharp interference features, and near-Gaussian wings. The only feature common to both cases is that in the Raman-Nath regime of scattering, the range on transverse momenta grows linearly with time at a rate proportional to 〈 n 〉 , where 〈 n 〉 is the mean number of photons in the field.
We have observed momentum transfer from a standing-wave light field to an atomic beam. The atomic beam is split symmetrically into two peaks whose separation increases with field strength. The short interaction time ensures that this deflection is due to induced forces; these are described using a semiclassical dressed-atom treatment, which gives good agreement with the data. In addition to the splitting, we have observed diffraction of the atomic beam due to the exchange of even numbers of photons with the field.