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Physical Review A

Geometric potentials for subrecoil dynamics

Paul M. Visser, Gerard Nienhuis

Published Jun 1, 1998• 36 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum motion of atoms in light fields is described on the basis of adiabatic internal states. Forces arise due to the spatial variation of these states, which is determined by the electric field polarization. In a dark state, these are the only forces present. They are described by a geometric vector and a scalar potential. We give analytical expressions for the geometric potentials in the dark states of a driven $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{j}j\ensuremath{-}1$ transition and the dark state in the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{1}1$ system, for arbitrary electromagnetic fields. For systems with velocity selective trapping states, the scalar geometric potential is inversely proportional to the field intensity squared. When the field has nodes the potential diverges. In one dimension, this constitutes an exact realization of the Kronig-Penney model.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.57.4581

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Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics•Jul 1, 2000•11 citations
Quantum motion of atoms in light fields is described on the basis of adiabatic internal states. Forces arise due to the spatial variation of these states, which is determined by the electric field polarization. In a dark state, these are the only forces present. They are described by a geometric vector and a scalar potential. We give analytical expressions for the geometric potentials in the dark states of a driven j\ensuremath→j\ensuremath−1\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{j}j\ensuremath{-}1j\ensuremath→​j\ensuremath−1 transition and the dark state in the 1\ensuremath→1\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{1}11\ensuremath→​1 system, for arbitrary electromagnetic fields. For systems with velocity selective trapping states, the scalar geometric potential is inversely proportional to the field intensity squared. When the field has nodes the potential diverges. In one dimension, this constitutes an exact realization of the Kronig-Penney model.
The light force on slow atoms in a light field with arbitrary polarization distribution is explicitly evaluated in the case of an atomic transition J yields J with half-integer J values. The expression of the force is based on an exact analytical expression for the steady-state density matrix of the atoms. The force is naturally separated in contributions resulting from gradients of the field intensity, the polarization ellipticity, and the phase. In addition to a conservative part this force also contains a vortex component. In areas of spatial localization, where the total force vanishes, the atomic motion is governed by a potential, which in general is not harmonic for J greater than 1/2. Simple model of the formation of a one- or two-dimensional spatial atomic grating in a specific light field configuration illustrates the results.
Abstract We illustrate the effects of the classical ‘magnetic’ and ‘electric’ geometric forces that enter into the adiabatic description of the slow motion of a heavy system coupled to a light one, beyond the Born–Oppenheimer approximation of simple averaging. When the fast system is a spin S and the slow system is a massive particle whose spatial position R is coupled to S with energy (fast hamiltonian) S · R, the magnetic force is that of a monopole of strength I (= adiabatic invariant S · R/R) centred at R = 0, and the electric force is inverse-cube repulsion with strength S2 – I2. Confining the slow particle to the surface of a sphere eliminates the Born–Oppenheimer and electric forces, and generates motion with precession and nutation exactly equivalent to that of a heavy symmetrical top. In the adiabatic limit the nutation is small and the averaged precession is precisely reproduced by the magnetic force. Alternatively, choosing the exactly conserved total angular momentum to vanish eliminates the Born–Oppenheimer and magnetic forces, and generates as exact orbits a one-parameter family of curly ‘antelope horns’ coiling in from infinity, reversing hand, and receding to infinity. In the adiabatic limit the repulsion of the ‘guiding centre’ of these coils is exactly reproduced by the electric force. A by-product of the ‘antelope horn’ analysis is a determination of the shape of a curve with a given curvature k and torsion T in terms of the evolution of a quantum 2-spinor driven by a planar ‘magnetic field’ with components k and T.
We propose a semi-classical interpretation of the geometric scalar and vector potentials that arise due to Berry's phase when an atom moves slowly in a light field.Starting from the full quantum Hamiltonian, we turn to a classical description of the atomic centre-of-mass motion while still treating the internal degrees of freedom as quantum variables.We show that the scalar potential can be identified as the kinetic energy of an atomic micro-motion caused by quantum fluctuations of the radiative force, and that the Lorentz-type force appears as a result of the motion-induced perturbation of the internal atomic state.For a specific configuration involving two counter-propagating Gaussian laser beams, we relate the geometric forces to the radiation pressure and dipole forces known from quantum optics.The simple physical pictures provided by the present analysis may help for the design and the implementation of novel geometric forces.
We present a general framework for engineering two-dimensional subwavelength topological optical lattices using spatially dependent atomic dark states in a Λ -type configuration of the atom-light coupling. By properly designing the spatial profiles of the laser fields inducing coupling between the atomic internal states, we show how to generate subwavelength Kronig-Penney-like geometric scalar potential accompanied by narrow and strong patches of the synthetic magnetic field localized in the same areas as the scalar potential. These sharply peaked magnetic fluxes are compensated by a smooth background magnetic field of opposite sign, resulting in zero net flux per unit cell while still enabling topologically nontrivial band structures. Specifically, for sufficiently narrow peaks, their influence is minimum, and the behavior of the system in a remaining smooth background magnetic field resembles the Landau problem, allowing for the formation of nearly flat energy bands with unit Chern numbers. Numerical analysis confirms the existence of ideal Chern bands and the robustness of the topological phases against nonadiabatic effects and losses. This makes the scheme well suited for simulating quantum Hall systems and fractional Chern insulators in ultracold atomic gases, offering a platform for exploring strongly correlated topological phases with high tunability.
We theoretically investigate the damping and trapping forces in a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT), by numerically solving the optical Bloch equations.We focus on the case where there are dark states because the atom is driven on a 'type-II' system where the angular momentum of the excited state, F¢, is less than or equal to that of the ground state, F. For these systems we find that the force in a three-dimensional light field has very different behaviour to its one dimensional counterpart.This differs from the more commonly used 'type-I' systems (F F 1 ¢ = + ) where the 1D and 3D behaviours are similar.Unlike type-I systems where, for red-detuned light, both Doppler and sub-Doppler forces damp the atomic motion towards zero velocity, in type-II systems in 3D, the Doppler force and polarization gradient force have opposite signs.As a result, the atom is driven towards a non-zero equilibrium velocity, v 0 , where the two forces cancel.We find that v 0 2 scales linearly with the intensity of the light and is fairly insensitive to the detuning from resonance.We also discover a new magneto-optical force that alters the normal MOT force at low magnetic fields and whose influence is greatest in the type-II systems.We discuss the implications of these findings for the laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of molecules where type-II transitions are unavoidable in realising closed optical cycling transitions.
An analysis is made of coherent population trapping as a result of resonant interaction of elliptically polarized light with atoms whose energy levels are degenerate with respect to the projection of the angular momentum and are coupled by a dipole transition. Explicit invariant expressions for dark states are obtained in tensor form for all transitions where population trapping occurs. A correspondence is established between the vector of the elliptic polarization and the pair of associated spinors. It is shown that all dark states can be constructed from these spinors by means of a multiple tensor product. For integer values of the angular momenta of the transitions these constructions reduce to spherical functions of a complex variable. As applications analytic expressions are obtained for the dark magneto-optic and geometric potentials, and the change in their profile with increasing angular momenta is analyzed.