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Physical Review Letters

Resonant Transmission of Cold Atoms through Subwavelength Apertures

Esteban Moreno, Antonio I. Fernández‐Domínguez, J. I. Cirac, Francisco José García-Vidal, Luis Martín-Moreno

Published Oct 20, 2005• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Recently, it has been observed that transmission of light through subwavelength apertures, which is usually negligible, can be significantly enhanced when surface plasmons are resonantly excited. Here we introduce the idea that similar effects can be expected for cold atoms in structures supporting surface matter waves. We show that surface matter waves are possible in properly designed structures, and then we theoretically demonstrate 100% transmission of rubidium atoms through an array of slits much narrower than the de Broglie wavelength of the atoms. Our results open up the possibility of using surface matter waves to control the flow of neutral atoms.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.95.170406

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EPJ Web of Conferences•Dec 13, 2016•0 citations
Recently, it has been observed that transmission of light through subwavelength apertures, which is usually negligible, can be significantly enhanced when surface plasmons are resonantly excited. Here we introduce the idea that similar effects can be expected for cold atoms in structures supporting surface matter waves. We show that surface matter waves are possible in properly designed structures, and then we theoretically demonstrate 100% transmission of rubidium atoms through an array of slits much narrower than the de Broglie wavelength of the atoms. Our results open up the possibility of using surface matter waves to control the flow of neutral atoms.
We study in detail the appearance of the phenomenon of resonant transmission of matter waves (cold noninteracting atoms) through subwavelength apertures. We show how the emergence of this effect, first reported for electromagnetic waves, is associated with the excitation of surface matter waves, the analog of surface plasmon polaritons in the electromagnetic case. We describe the similarities and differences for the one-dimensional (array of slits) and two-dimensional (array of holes) cases. In this last structure, extraordinary transmission of matter waves is theoretically predicted. Finally, we also study the existence of the beaming effect for matter waves in single apertures flanked by periodic corrugations.
We show theoretically that the shape of a beam of matter waves (cold atoms) emerging from one subwavelength aperture pierced in a film can be collimated within a few degrees. By means of an external laser field, a potential well for the atoms in the direction perpendicular to the surface is created. In this way, a running surface matter wave can be excited when atoms diffract from the aperture. If the aperture is surrounded with a finite array of indentations, coherent scattering of the surface matter wave with these indentations molds the angular distribution of the matter wave in the far field.
We investigate the propagation of light in different conditions that lead to exotic propagation of photons and use near-resonant light-matter interactions to enhance these effects. First, we study the propagation of light in a moving highly dispersive medium, namely rubidium atoms. Based on the special relativity the speed of light changes with the speed of the medium. However, this drag effect in a non-dispersive medium is very small and thus difficult to measure. We show that the drag effect is enhanced significantly when the moving medium is highly dispersive. Thus, with this enhancement even a slow motion can be detected. Next, we employ the large nonlinear response of rubidium atoms to accentuate the formation of optical caustics. Caustics are important as nature uses caustics to concentrate the energy of waves. Moreover, caustics can be formed in many physical systems such as water waves in oceans to amplify tsunamis or generate rogue waves. The connection of our study to these giant water waves is discussed. Finally, we explore light-matter interactions in plasmonic systems. We show that photons experience a significant phase jump as they couple into and out of a plasmonic structure. This coupling phase, also known as the scattering phase shift, is generic to all scattering events. We measure this coupling phase with a triple-slit plasmonic structure. Moreover, we use the near-field enhancement of the plasmonic structure to enhance the coupling between the slits. Consequently, the photons can take non-trivial trajectories that pass through all three slits. We measure such exotic trajectories for the first time that are seemingly in violation of the superposition principle. The application of the superposition principle and the validity of Born’s rule is discussed.
Metasurfaces have been employed to control the electromagnetic and acoustic waves. We suggest that the quantum particles can be manipulated with a de Broglie wave metasurface. The effect was achieved by using the dielectric films milled with subwavelength slits, which behave as the quantum meta-atoms with an effective potential energy. The calculations show that \ensuremath{\sim}100% transmission of de Broglie waves may appear in certain conditions. Moreover, by tuning the effective potential of the slits, a full 360\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} coverage of transmission phase is attainable. With a carefully designed annular metasurface, highly efficient and subwavelength focusing of de Broglie waves has been theoretically demonstrated. Our work may render a way to manipulate quantum particles.
The paper reports on the optical detection and spectroscopy of ultracold atoms near a gold surface.A probe light field is used to excite surface plasmon polaritons.The refractive index of the atomic gas shifts the plasmon resonance and changes the reflected light power.Thus, the sensitivity of the detection is plasmonically enhanced.Absorption of photons from the evanescent wave is avoided by detuning the laser from atomic resonance which makes the detection scheme potentially nondestructive.The spectrum of the signal is determined by a Fano resonance.We show that atoms can be detected nondestructively with single atom resolution for typical parameters in cold atom experiments.Thus, the method is suitable for quantum nondemolition measurements of matter wave amplitudes.Experimentally, we measure a technically limited sensitivity of 30 atoms and extend the detection scheme to dispersively image the atom cloud near the surface.
The results of investigation of photon transport through the subwavelength hole in the opaque screen by using single neutral atom are represented. The basis of the proposed and implemented method is the absorption of a photon by a neutral atom immediately before the subwavelength aperture, traveling of the atoms through the hole and emission of a photon on the other side of the screen. Realized method is the alternative approach to existing for photon transport through a subwavelength aperture: 1) self-sustained transmittance of a photon through the aperture according to the Bethe’s model; 2) extra ordinary transmission because of surface-plasmon excitation.