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Optics Letters

Surface-plasmon mirror for atoms

Tilman Esslinger, Matthias Weidemüller, Andreas Hemmerich, Theodor W. Hänsch

Published Mar 15, 1993• 81 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate specular reflection of a thermal rubidium beam with low-power laser light. The atoms are reflected by the gradient force of an evanescent wave enhanced by surface plasmons excited in a thin silver layer. With only 6 mW of diode laser power we achieve a deflection angle of 2.5 mrad. Analysis of the velocity distribution of the reflected atoms yields an enhancement factor of 60 +/- 20 for the amplitude square of the evanescent wave.

DOI
10.1364/ol.18.000450

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We demonstrate specular reflection of a thermal rubidium beam with low-power laser light. The atoms are reflected by the gradient force of an evanescent wave enhanced by surface plasmons excited in a thin silver layer. With only 6 mW of diode laser power we achieve a deflection angle of 2.5 mrad. Analysis of the velocity distribution of the reflected atoms yields an enhancement factor of 60 +/- 20 for the amplitude square of the evanescent wave.
The reflection of metastable argon atoms from evanescent waves produced by total internal reflection and surface-plasmon excitation is investigated. We study the departure from ideal specular reflection by comparing our experimental results with a Monte Carlo simulation of the reflection process. The observed broadening of the reflection beam was found to be caused predominantly by fluctuations of the diple force. We show that the surface plasmon produces significant enhancement of the evanescent-wave intensity without degrading the quality of reflection. In addition, the number of spontaneous emissions occurring during the reflection process was investigated by comparing the reflectivity of evanescent-wave mirrors based on open and closed transitions in argon. An open-transition mirror selectively reflects atoms which do not undergo spontaneous emission. For a large detuning, the average number of spontaneous emissions for reflected atoms was 0.11.
We report a direct observation of radiation pressure, exerted on cold rubidium atoms while bouncing on an evanescent-wave atom mirror. We analyze the radiation pressure by imaging the motion of the atoms after the bounce. The number of absorbed photons is measured for laser detunings ranging from 190 MHz to 1.4 GHz and for angles from 0.9 mrad to 24 mrad above the critical angle of total internal reflection. Depending on these settings, we find velocity changes parallel with the mirror surface, ranging from 1 to 18 cm/s. This corresponds to 2 to 31 photon recoils per atom. These results are independent of the evanescent-wave optical power.
Summary form only given. Evanescent wave atomic mirrors have been shown to be very sensitive to the surface roughness of the glass substrate on which the evanescent wave is formed. Non-specular reflection of slow atoms at normal incidence has been observed for surface roughness as low as 0.1 nm. We interpret this behaviour in terms of diffraction of the atomic De Broglie wave on the modulated potential created by the interference of the evanescent wave with light scattered by the rough surface. However these experiments could not separate the specular peak of reflected atoms from the diffuse part. We have developed a new method to measure the velocity distribution of the atoms after the bounce with a much better resolution, using Raman transitions. Two phase locked counterpropagating laser beams induce a Raman transition between the ground state hyperfine levels of the /sup 85/Rb atoms falling from a magneto-optical trap. The resonance condition is only fulfilled for atoms with a transverse velocity controlled by the interaction time between the atoms and the beams. These velocity selected atoms bounce on the mirror and their velocity distribution after reflection can be measured using the same Raman beams, by scanning their difference in frequency.
Cook and Hill suggested that the gradient of an optical field can be used to reflect atoms. To reflect atoms, the repulsive dipole force is used, which comes from the interaction between the electric dipole moment of atoms and the evanescent field. The evanescent wave is generated when light is totally reflected internally at the interface of different refractive indices. Later, the way to enhance the evanescent wave with a thin dielectric waveguide has been reported. We designed the atomic mirror for silicon atoms, whose structure enhances the evanescent field that is used to repel silicon atoms. We also set up the equations of motion for silicon atoms and derive trajectories of the atoms reflected by the atomic mirror. Optical intensity, incident angle of the light, and effective detuning are described in terms of controlling the trajectory of the atom.
When a laser Bessel beam light is totally reflected internally at the planar surface of a dielectric on which a thin film has been deposited, a surface plasmons with phase singularities can be produced. This two-dimensional plasmons lead to an attractive potential with enhancement. Using this effect, we construct a model for optical trapping cold atoms. Efficiency of the trap will be presented by an ellipse with average radius r in the ( x , y ) directions and the distance d from planar surface in the z -direction.