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Quantum and Semiclassical Optics Journal of the European Optical Society Part B

Detailed study of a high-finesse planar waveguide for evanescent wave atomic mirrors

G. Labeyrie, Arnaud Landragin, Joachim von Zanthier, Robin Kaiser, Nathalie Vansteenkiste, Christoph Ira Westbrook, Alain Aspect

Published Jun 1, 1996• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have realized a resonant waveguide structure which enhances the intensity of an evanescent wave at a dielectric - vacuum interface by more than three orders of magnitude. We present a simple theoretical model including the effect of the losses in the waveguide, which gives a good description of the observed behaviour of the structure. We experimentally determine the enhancement factor by analysing the resonance of the reflected light intensity. This characterization technique allows for an easy in situ monitoring of the enhancement, which is a key feature for the understanding of atomic mirror experiments.

DOI
10.1088/1355-5111/8/3/022

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We have realized a resonant waveguide structure which enhances the intensity of an evanescent wave at a dielectric - vacuum interface by more than three orders of magnitude. We present a simple theoretical model including the effect of the losses in the waveguide, which gives a good description of the observed behaviour of the structure. We experimentally determine the enhancement factor by analysing the resonance of the reflected light intensity. This characterization technique allows for an easy in situ monitoring of the enhancement, which is a key feature for the understanding of atomic mirror experiments.
We are interested in a coherent atom mirror (specular atomic reflections in vacuum).A resonant dielectric waveguide structure is placed upon the prism so that a large energy is confined into the waveguide which is placed between two mediums of low index medium.The incident laser beam is resonantly coupled to a waveguide mode, through the gap, by frustrated total internal reflection.We obtain a large amplitude evanescent wave in the vacuum above the waveguide.We study the influence of the thickness of the gap and the losses inside the waveguide.
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.
A cloud of atoms reflecting from an evanescent-wave mirror produces a phase shift on the beam producing the evanescent wave. This shift can be used to detect the passage of the atoms. We give a physical discussion of this process and estimate the phase shift. The shift can be greatly increased by using a resonant planar waveguide. We also estimate the signal-to-noise ratio and show how to optimize the experimental parameters of such a measurement. Using the waveguide we find a signal-to-noise ratio of order of 300 in a realistic experimental situation.
The penetration depth and pseudomomentum (wave vector) of evanescent electromagnetic waves are measured at a planar dielectric surface by means of laser spectroscopy using the Cs D2{\mathrm{D}}_{2}D2​ line with a wavelength of 852.1 nm. The same experimental setup is employed in all the experiments. The first result shows a sharp, asymmetric absorption profile, which is explained in terms of the thin penetration depth, and the second shows an actual transfer of the pseudomomentum of the surface electromagnetic mode to atoms via a resonance interaction. The measured penetration depth and pseudomomentum agree with the natural interpretation of the complex wave number characterizing evanescent waves at a planar dielectric-vapor interface. Direct excitation of evanescent waves by excited Cs atoms has also been observed as atomic fluorescence emitted into the dielectric material at the angle of total internal reflection. The results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions and exhibit the characteristics of excitation transfer or tunneling from Cs atoms into the surface mode.
Dielectric atomic mirrors are considered in which the repulsive force field owes its existence to an evanescent mode in the presence of a metallic capping layer. The theory of such an atomic mirror is constructed, assuming a finite thickness of the metallic layer with a finite plasma frequency and adopting the field-dipole orientation picture. The Rabi frequency together with the reflectivity for the light incident from within the substrate are evaluated, and their variations with the type of metal and layer thickness analyzed as useful indicators of the effectiveness of the system as an atomic mirror. A number of interesting features are pointed out, including a desirable enhancement. Solutions of the equation of motion for a given atom, subject to given initial conditions, lead to trajectories exhibiting reflection. The leading force fields controlling the dynamics include the average dipole image force plus the average light-induced forces due to the evanescent field. The parameters used to compute the trajectories are similar to those in recent experiments in which Rb atoms incident on a silver film deposited on a glass substrate have been shown to experience enhanced mirror action. The factors controlling the enhancement in general are pointed out and discussed.