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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Controlling atom motion through the dipole–dipole force

Michael L. Wall, F. Robicheaux, R. R. Jones

Published Sep 7, 2007• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe simulations that illustrate the possibility for manipulating the position correlation of atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using the dipole–dipole interaction. The control scheme utilizes a narrow band laser that is detuned to the high-frequency side of a single-photon Rydberg transition in an isolated atom. As two atoms move near each other, they can be laser excited to repelling diatomic Rydberg–Rydberg potential energy curves which halt their approach. By chirping the laser from large to small detunings, atoms in a MOT can be pushed apart by dipole–dipole forces, thereby controlling nearest-neighbor interactions. Alternatively, by holding the frequency of the Rydberg excitation laser fixed as the MOT is loaded, it should be possible to limit the minimum distance between atoms to a prescribed value.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/40/18/009

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We describe simulations that illustrate the possibility for manipulating the position correlation of atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using the dipole–dipole interaction. The control scheme utilizes a narrow band laser that is detuned to the high-frequency side of a single-photon Rydberg transition in an isolated atom. As two atoms move near each other, they can be laser excited to repelling diatomic Rydberg–Rydberg potential energy curves which halt their approach. By chirping the laser from large to small detunings, atoms in a MOT can be pushed apart by dipole–dipole forces, thereby controlling nearest-neighbor interactions. Alternatively, by holding the frequency of the Rydberg excitation laser fixed as the MOT is loaded, it should be possible to limit the minimum distance between atoms to a prescribed value.
Summary form only given. Interactions between neutral atoms are generally weak, but exciting these atoms in a Rydberg state considerably enhances their interaction through a long-range dipole-dipole potential. An interesting application of this dipole-dipole interaction is the dipole blockade in Rydberg excitation. This effect offers exciting possibilities for manipulating quantum bits stored in a single collective excitations in mesoscopic ensembles, or for realizing scalable quantum logic gate. The dipole blockade effect has been demonstrated in atomic ensembles by different groups, and recently also with two independently trapped atoms, which shows the possibility of creating entangle states and quantum logic gates. To extend and continue these results with more atoms, a promising method is to use atoms trapped in an optical lattice in the Mott insulator phase. To excite atoms into a Rydberg state, and to control the interactions and the dipole blockade, a high resolution laser scheme is needed. We use a two-photon excitation scheme 5s1/2rarr 6p3/2rarr ns or nd. The first step, at 420 nm, is realized by doubling a MOPA laser, with the second step at ~ 1000 nm. Both lasers are locked to a Fabry-Perot cavity, and the total excitation bandwidth is less than 3 MHz. After the excitation into the Rydberg state, we apply a pulsed electric field to ionize and detect the Rydberg atoms with an ion detector. To characterize and improve the efficiency of our ion detection, we have explored the direct ionization of ultracold atoms in a magneto-optical trap, or in a Bose-Einstein condensate. This calibration will allows us to characterize precisely the Rydberg excitation and to monitor its time evolution. First results on the Rydberg excitation of ultracold atoms in dipole traps and optical lattices will be presented. The prospect for creating Rydberg excitations inside a Mott insulator will also be discussed.
Since the first proposal and the first experiment on magneto-optical trapping of atoms, magneto-optical traps (MOT) became the most popular traps for cold atoms. Despite the numerous successful applications of MOT it is still unclear what ultimate parameters could be expected for atoms trapped in MOT. We develop the theory of MOT for cold atoms under the multilevel dipole interaction schemes. Theory is based on consideration of one-dimensional motion of atoms which have three ground-state sublevels (F/sub g/=1) and five upper-state sublevels (F/sub e/=2) and are in inhomogeneous magnetic field and in the field of two counter-propagating circular polarized laser waves. It is shown that in multilevel interaction schemes two-photon processes are responsible for formation of a narrow velocity and spatial structure in the radiation force. It is found that two-photon coherent process enhances considerably the friction force and the oscillation frequency at negative detuning. Single-photon and two-photon processes are shown to produce the two-component structure of the MOT potential and accordingly the two-component coordinate distribution.
We demonstrate enhancement in the number of trapped cesium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a control laser that illuminates only a small faction of the capture region of the trap without interacting with the cold cloud of atoms. The enhancement is maximized when the laser is slightly blue detuned with respect to the cooling transition. Trap loading curves point to approximately a twofold increase in the capture rate, which as a consequence results in the increase in the steady state number of trapped atoms. Enhanced loading is confirmed by MOT loading and decay curves taken under the modulation of the control laser beam. Optical pumping of the inaccessible Zeeman states into the stretched states is suggested as a possible mechanism.
Atoms in an ultracold highly excited sample are strongly coupled through the dipole-dipole interaction. In an effort to understand and manipulate the complicated interactions in this system we are investigating their dependence on the relative orientation of the dipoles. By focusing a 480 nm beam from a tunable dye laser into a magneto-optical trap, we produce a nearly one-dimensional sample of Rydberg atoms. The trap lies at the center of four conducting rods with which we can vary the magnitude and direction of the electric field at the trap, thus controlling the orientation of the dipoles with respect to the sample axis. We have measured the strength of the interaction for a variety of relative orientations.
We have realized a very small optical dipole trap that is designed to store and manipulate individual atoms. Due to the very small dipole-trap volume, a 'collisional blockade' mechanism locks the average number of trapped atoms at a value of 0.5 over a large range of loading rates. Here we describe methods to characterize the motion of a single trapped atom, and we also demonstrate the possibility of trapping two atoms individually at a short distance apart. Finally, we study theoretically the possibility to perform 'conditional quantum logic' by scattering photons from two such atoms.