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Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics

Two-dimensional focusing of neutral atomic beams by resonant laser radiation

Viktor I Balykin, T V Zueva, A. I. Sidorov

Published Nov 30, 1989• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A theoretical investigation is reported of a two-dimensional focusing of an atomic beam by a centrally symmetric optical field formed by two pairs of mutually perpendicular laser beams. Conditions under which this optical field acts as a converging laser lens are identified. The errors of such a laser focusing system are determined.
DOI
10.1070/qe1989v019n11abeh009596

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The principal element in any sort of optics is a lens. It is essential to create laser field configurations capable of focusing neutral atomic beams. There are two possibilities for focusing an atomic beam by laser light: by using the gradient force or by using the light pressure force. The force effecting the focusing of an atom in a beam should be proportional to the atomic displacement. This criterion must be satisfied for the force to produce the true “image”: if this criteria is not met, the image is blurred, i.e. there are aberrations. An approach to treat the focusing of atomic beam by laser light is to use the path integral technique to calculate the evolution of atomic wave function as it propagates in laser field. A particle-optical approach also can be used for treatment of focusing of atoms by laser light. The quadratic radial dependence of the potential is a necessary condition for focusing of atoms.
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The focusing of a neutral atomic beam using near-resonant laser light is considered. The results of a path integral solution to the Schrodinger in the stationary phase approximation are presented. The details of the derivation of the propagation kernel are presented elsewhere [1]. This approach is general and allows us to deal with "thick" laser lenses. Numerical results for the focusing of a Gaussian atomic beam are presented. These results show that spot diameters on the order of 20 Angstroms are obtainable for many reasonable choices of laser and atomic beam parameters, and that for most of these cases the thin lens approximation is not valid.
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