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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Blazed atom grating

Gaëtan Lévêque, Renaud Mathevet

Published Jul 1, 2005• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a method to create a blazed atomic diffraction grating by use of a periodical optical potential. Like its optical counterpart, the blazed atomic diffraction grating distributes intensity into a specific nonzero diffraction order. Total internal reflection of a laser beam coupled to the nanostructured surface of a prism results in transverse modulation of the intensity responsible for atomic diffraction. For specific illumination parameters and periodicity of the pattern, the long-range potential interacting with the atoms has an asymmetric sawtooth shape. Analytic and numerical calculations show that population diffracted in the +1 order can be optimized to approximately 55%, with almost no population into the -1 order.

DOI
10.1364/josab.22.001554

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A blazed gain grating in a four-level atomic system is theoretically demonstrated. This grating is based on the spatial modulation of Raman gain, which is created by an intensity mask in the signal field. Due to the modulo-2π phase modulation, the majority of energy in the amplified probe beam can be deflected into the first-order direction, and a diffraction efficiency higher than 100% is predicted. When an intensity mask having two symmetric domains is adopted, this proposal can give a further possibility of all-optical beam splitting.
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In atom optics a material structure is commonly regarded as an amplitude mask for atom waves. However, atomic diffraction patterns formed using material gratings indicate that material structures also operate as phase masks. In this study a well collimated beam of sodium atoms is used to illuminate a silicon nitride grating with a period of 100 nm. During passage through the grating slots atoms acquire a phase shift due to the van der Waals interaction with the grating walls. As a result the relative intensities of the matter-wave diffraction peaks deviate from those expected for a purely absorbing grating. Thus a complex transmission function is required to explain the observed diffraction envelopes. An optics perspective to the theory of atomic diffraction from material gratings is put forth in the hopes of providing a more intuitive picture concerning the influence of the vdW potential. The van der Waals coefficient C3=2.7pm0.8meVnm3C_{3} = 2.7\\pm 0.8{meV nm}^{3}C3​=2.7pm0.8meVnm3 is determined by fitting a modified Fresnel optical theory to the experimental data. This value of C3C_{3}C3​ is consistent with a van der Waals interaction between atomic sodium and a silicon nitride surface.