We demonstrate a scheme for the Fourier synthesis of periodic optical potentials with asymmetric unit cells for atoms. In a proof of principle experiment, an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate is exposed to either symmetric or sawtooth-like asymmetric potentials by superimposing a conventional standing wave potential of $\ensuremath{\lambda}∕2$ spatial periodicity with a fourth-order lattice potential of $\ensuremath{\lambda}∕4$ periodicity. The high periodicity lattice is realized using dispersive properties of multiphoton Raman transitions. Future applications of the demonstrated scheme could range from the search for novel quantum phases in unconventionally shaped lattice potentials up to dissipationless atomic quantum ratchets.
The long range goal of this project was the creation of nanostructures using light fields to manipulate atoms. By passing an atomic beam through one or more standing wave light fields, it is possible to create modulations in the atomic density having periods which are a fraction of the period of the standing wave light fields. Patterns having periods as small as lambda/10 were observed using optical masks and clear evidence for matter-wave effects were established. Several theoretical methods for achieving sub-lambda matter wave patterns were developed, Moreover it was shown that it is possible to create optical lattices having reduced periodicity using Raman transitions in a novel atom-field geometry Experiments were carried out in both magneto-optical traps and atomic beams. In both experimental set-ups, pulsed standing wave optical fields were used to excite the atoms. At some later time the atoms were probed by a traveling wave field, revealing the spatial patterns that had evolved as a result of the atom-field interaction.
A method is proposed for producing atom gratings having period
λ/4 and
λ/8 using optical fields having wavelength
λ. Counterpropagating optical fields drive Raman transitions between ground state sublevels. The Raman fields can be described by an effective two photon field having wave vector 2 k, where k is the propagation vector of one of the fields. By combining this Raman field with {\em another} Raman field having propagation vector -2 k, one, in effect, creates a standing wave Raman field \label{91}%which whose ``intensity'' varies as
cos(4k⋅r). When atoms move through this standing wave field, atom gratings having period
λ/4 are produced, with the added possibility that the total ground state population in a given ground state manifold can have
λ/8 periodicity. The conditions required to produce such gratings are derived. Moreover, it is shown that even higher order gratings having periodicity smaller than
λ/8 can be produced using a multicolor field geometry involving three (two-photon) Raman fields. Although most calculations are carried out in the Raman-Nath approximation, the use of Raman fields to create reduced period optical lattices is also discussed.
We report on an experimental study of quantum transport of atoms in variable periodic optical potentials. The band structure of both ratchet-type asymmetric and symmetric lattice potentials is explored. The variable atom potential is realized by superimposing a conventional standing wave potential of lambda/2 spatial periodicity with a fourth-order multiphoton potential of lambda/4 periodicity. We find that the Landau-Zener tunneling rate between the first and the second excited Bloch band depends critically on the relative phase between the two spatial lattice harmonics.
The electric field intensity of a standing-wave laser field is periodic in space. Due to the ac Stark effect, this gives rise to a spatially periodic potential acting on an atom, as explained in Chapter 4 (see, e.g., Eq. (4.31)). This is the physical principle behind the generation of optical lattices. By superimposing a number of different laser beams it is possible to generate potentials which are periodic in one, two or three dimensions. The suggestion that standing light waves may be used to confine the motion of atoms dates back to 1968 and is due to Letokhov. The first experimental realization of an optical lattice was achieved in 1987 for a classical gas of cesium atoms. The study of atoms in such potentials has many different facets. At the simplest level, it is possible to study the energy band structure of atoms moving in these potentials and to explore experimentally a number of effects that are difficult to observe for electrons in the periodic lattice of a solid. Interactions between atoms introduce qualitatively new effects. Within mean-field theory, which applies when the number of atoms in the vicinity of a single minimum of the potential is sufficiently large, one finds that interatomic interactions give rise to novel features in the band structure. These include multivaluedness of the energy for a given band and states possessing a periodicity different from that of the optical lattice.
In this article we keep digging into the capabilities of optical lattices as simulators, showing how they can also be a powerful tool for simulating phenomena traditionally linked to quantum-optical systems (a study that we began in de Vega et al., (2008)). The basic idea consists of connecting an atomic state trapped in the optical lattice to a non trapped state through a Raman scheme. The coupling between these two types of atoms (trapped and free) turns out to be similar to that describing light-matter interaction within the rotating-wave approximation, the role of matter and photons being played by the trapped and free atoms, respectively.