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Boosting the Light: X-ray Physics in Confinement

Ralf Rhisberger

Published Mar 1, 2006• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Remarkable effects are observed if light is confined to dimensions comparable to the wavelength of the light. The lifetime of atomic resonances excited by the radiation is strongly reduced in photonic traps, such as cavities or waveguides. Moreover, one observes an anomalous boost of the intensity scattered from the resonant atoms. These phenomena results from the strong enhancement of the photonic density of states in such geometries. Many of these effects are currently being explored in the regime of vsible light due to their relevance for optical information processing. It is thus appealing to study these phenomena also for much shorter wavelengths. This talk illuminates recent experiments where synchrotron x-rays were trapped in planar waveguides to resonantly excite atomos ([57]Fe nuclei_ embedded in them. In fact, one observes that the radiative decay of these excited atoms is strongly accelerated. The temporal acceleration of the decay goes along with a strong boost of the radiation coherently scattered from the confined atmos. This can be exploited to obtain a high signal-to-noise ratio from tiny quantities of material, leading to manifold applications in the investigation of nanostructured materials. One application is the use of ultrathin probe layers to image the internal structure ofmore » magnetic layer systems.« less

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Excitation of Nuclei and Atoms Trapping in Optical Fields of High Intensity

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A promising platform for the emerging field of x-ray quantum optics consists of M\"ossbauer nuclei embedded in thin-film cavities probed by near-resonant x-ray light, as used in a number of recent experiments. Here we develop a quantum optical framework for the description of experimentally relevant settings involving nuclei embedded in x-ray waveguides. We apply our formalism to two settings of current experimental interest based on the archetype M\"ossbauer isotope ${}^{57}$Fe. For the present experimental conditions, we derive compact analytical expressions and show that the alignment of medium magnetization, as well as incident and detection polarization, enable the engineering of advanced quantum optical level schemes. The model encompasses nonlinear and quantum effects which could become accessible in future experiments.

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Light Propagation: From Atomic to Nuclear Quantim Optics (J Evers et al.) Relativistic High-Order Harmonic Generation (M C Kohler & K Z Hatsagortsyan) Entangled Light and Matter Waves via Non-linear Interactions (M Macovei et al.) Irreversible Photon Transfer in an Ensemble of Λ-Type Atoms and Photon Diode (G Nikoghosyan & M Fleischhauer) Dissipative Chaos in Quantum Distributions (T V Gevorgyan et al.) Frequency Chirped Laser Pulses in Atomic Physics: Coherent Control of Inner and Translational Quantum States (G P Djotyan et al.) Strongly Correlated Quantum Dynamics of Multimode Light Coupled to a Two-Level Atom in a Cavity (T Kumar et al.) Feedback-Driven Adiabatic Quantum Dynamics (A E Allahverdyan & G Mahler) Landau-Zener Transition in Nonlinear Quantum System (A M Ishkhanyan) Photonic and Electronic Phenomena in Structured Media: Multiple Interactions in Multilayered Structures of Nonlinear Materials (D A Antonosyan & G Yu Kryuchkyan) Integrated Photonic Device Structures with Nano-Scale Features: For Sensitive Applications (R M De La Rue) One-, Two-Electronic and Excitonic States in a Quantum Dots with Nontrivial Geometries: Adiabatic Description (K G Dvoyan et al.) Plannar Plasmonic Structures and Non-linear Metal-Dielectric Subwavelength Waveguides (A R Davoyan et al.) Computer Algebra Study of Structural and Symmetry Properties of Discrete Dynamical Systems (V V Kornyak) Exotic Few-Body Bound States in a Lattice (D Petrosyan & M Valiente) Slow Light and Phase Transition in the Array of Atomic Polaritons (I O Barinov et al.) Nonlinear Optical Effects and Spectroscopy: Formation of Narrow Optical Resonances Using Submicron-Thin Atomic Vapor Layers (D Sarkisyan & A Papoyan) Modelling Magneto-Optical Resonances in Atomic Rubidium at D1 Excitation in Extremely Thin Cells While Maintaining a Self-Consistent Set of Theoretical Parameters (L Kalvans et al.) Laser Isotope Separation in Atomic Vapour. Photo-Chemical Method vs Photo-Ionization One (P A Bokhan et al.) Two-Dimensional Confined Terahertz Wave Propagation in Gap Plasmon Waveguide Formed by Two Cyclindrical Surfaces (Yu H Avetisyan et al.) Broadband Similariton: Features and Applications (A Zeytunyan et al.).

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Atoms in micron-sized metallic and dielectric waveguides

Edward A. Hinds, K. S. Lai, M. Schnell

Over the past ten years, our group has investigated the effects of confinement on atoms inside metallic micron–sized cavities in order to elucidate some basic phenomena in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The first of these was the inhibition of spontaneous emission from an atom inside a cavity. This was followed by a laser spectroscopic measurement of the van der Waals interaction between a single Rydberg atom and a gold cavity, which showed that a simple electrostatic model of the atom–cavity interaction is correct when the cavity is small enough. More recently, the retarded Casimir–Polder force was measured between a ground state sodium atom and a large cavity, demonstrating that the van der Waals potential fails at long enough range and that the vacuum fluctuations of the field then have an important role in the interaction of the atom with the cavity. Our group is now pushing forward these investigations to study cavities whose walls have losses and dispersion, where the theory of cavity QED is significantly more complicated. With real surfaces, we have to deal with the complex dielectric response ε(ω) of the material, which exhibits frequency–dependent absorption and dispersion. One particularly interesting case is when a downward transition in the atom is resonant with an excitation of the cavity walls. This opens a new branch for the atomic decay: as an alternative to creating a photon within the space surrounded by the cavity walls the atomic decay can now create an electromagnetic excitation of the walls themselves. Another novel feature of our experiments is that the Bohr frequencies of the atom are close to the kT/h, where T is room temperature. We therefore expect to be able to measure effects associated with QED at finite temperature; in other words, to study how the blackbody radiation affects our experiments. By conducting experiments with real surfaces, we hope to elucidate and perhaps simplify the theoretical models used to describe these systems.

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Accelerating the Spontaneous Emission of X Rays from Atoms in a Cavity

Ralf Röhlsberger, Kai Schlage, T. Klein +1 more

We have investigated the spontaneous radiative decay of resonant nuclei in a planar x-ray waveguide after excitation by synchrotron radiation pulses. The waveguide acts as a cavity and modifies the mode structure of the electromagnetic field. As a result, the rate of spontaneous emission is enhanced by a factor proportional to the density of photon states in the cavity. In this experiment, we have observed a sixfold acceleration of the coherent radiative decay of 57Fe nuclei located in the center of the first-order guided mode. This is in very good agreement with theoretical predictions.

Physical Review Letters•Aug 22, 2005•26 citations
Remarkable effects are observed if light is confined to dimensions comparable to the wavelength of the light. The lifetime of atomic resonances excited by the radiation is strongly reduced in photonic traps, such as cavities or waveguides. Moreover, one observes an anomalous boost of the intensity scattered from the resonant atoms. These phenomena results from the strong enhancement of the photonic density of states in such geometries. Many of these effects are currently being explored in the regime of vsible light due to their relevance for optical information processing. It is thus appealing to study these phenomena also for much shorter wavelengths. This talk illuminates recent experiments where synchrotron x-rays were trapped in planar waveguides to resonantly excite atomos ([57]Fe nuclei_ embedded in them. In fact, one observes that the radiative decay of these excited atoms is strongly accelerated. The temporal acceleration of the decay goes along with a strong boost of the radiation coherently scattered from the confined atmos. This can be exploited to obtain a high signal-to-noise ratio from tiny quantities of material, leading to manifold applications in the investigation of nanostructured materials. One application is the use of ultrathin probe layers to image the internal structure ofmore » magnetic layer systems.« less
This thesis describes quantum optical experiments with x-rays with the aim of reaching the strong-coupling regime of light and matter. We make use of the interaction which arisesbetween resonant matter and x-rays in specially designed thin-film nanostructures which form x-ray cavities. Here, the resonant matter are Tantalum atoms and the Iron isotope 57^{57}57Fe. Both limit the number of modes available to the resonant atoms for interaction, and enhances the interaction strength. Thus we have managed to observe a number of phenomena well-known in quantum optics, which are the building blocks for sophisticated applications in e.g. metrology. Among these are the strong coupling of light and matter and the concurrent exchange of virtual photons, often called Rabi oscillations. Furthermore we have designed and tested a type of cavity hitherto unused in x-ray optics. Finally, we develop a new method for synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy, which not only promises to yield high-resolution spectra, but also enables the retrieval of the phase of the scattered light. The results open new avenues for quantum optical experiments with x-rays, particularly with regards to the ongoing development of high-brilliance x-ray free-electron lasers.
This report results from a contract tasking Moscow State University as follows: Exploration of methods to control the radiative gamma- processes in nuclei is currently one of the most promising investigation directions of the modern Quantum Nucleonics - a new realm of contemporary Physics which spreads the basic conceptual ideas and methods of optical Quantum Electronics of atoms and molecules to the gamma-ray range and atomic nuclei and even anti-particles. One of the most important problems in this field is the generation of coherent gamma-radiation by a Gamma-ray Lasing (GRL) process which makes use of excited nuclei as an amplifying medium. The most likely medium for gamma-ray lasers is an ensemble of metastable nuclear isomers, Direct excitation of these isomeric states by electrons or X-ray photons will also create a deeper understanding of nuclear structure and properties.
A promising platform for the emerging field of x-ray quantum optics consists of M\"ossbauer nuclei embedded in thin-film cavities probed by near-resonant x-ray light, as used in a number of recent experiments. Here we develop a quantum optical framework for the description of experimentally relevant settings involving nuclei embedded in x-ray waveguides. We apply our formalism to two settings of current experimental interest based on the archetype M\"ossbauer isotope 57{}^{57}57Fe. For the present experimental conditions, we derive compact analytical expressions and show that the alignment of medium magnetization, as well as incident and detection polarization, enable the engineering of advanced quantum optical level schemes. The model encompasses nonlinear and quantum effects which could become accessible in future experiments.
Light Propagation: From Atomic to Nuclear Quantim Optics (J Evers et al.) Relativistic High-Order Harmonic Generation (M C Kohler & K Z Hatsagortsyan) Entangled Light and Matter Waves via Non-linear Interactions (M Macovei et al.) Irreversible Photon Transfer in an Ensemble of Λ-Type Atoms and Photon Diode (G Nikoghosyan & M Fleischhauer) Dissipative Chaos in Quantum Distributions (T V Gevorgyan et al.) Frequency Chirped Laser Pulses in Atomic Physics: Coherent Control of Inner and Translational Quantum States (G P Djotyan et al.) Strongly Correlated Quantum Dynamics of Multimode Light Coupled to a Two-Level Atom in a Cavity (T Kumar et al.) Feedback-Driven Adiabatic Quantum Dynamics (A E Allahverdyan & G Mahler) Landau-Zener Transition in Nonlinear Quantum System (A M Ishkhanyan) Photonic and Electronic Phenomena in Structured Media: Multiple Interactions in Multilayered Structures of Nonlinear Materials (D A Antonosyan & G Yu Kryuchkyan) Integrated Photonic Device Structures with Nano-Scale Features: For Sensitive Applications (R M De La Rue) One-, Two-Electronic and Excitonic States in a Quantum Dots with Nontrivial Geometries: Adiabatic Description (K G Dvoyan et al.) Plannar Plasmonic Structures and Non-linear Metal-Dielectric Subwavelength Waveguides (A R Davoyan et al.) Computer Algebra Study of Structural and Symmetry Properties of Discrete Dynamical Systems (V V Kornyak) Exotic Few-Body Bound States in a Lattice (D Petrosyan & M Valiente) Slow Light and Phase Transition in the Array of Atomic Polaritons (I O Barinov et al.) Nonlinear Optical Effects and Spectroscopy: Formation of Narrow Optical Resonances Using Submicron-Thin Atomic Vapor Layers (D Sarkisyan & A Papoyan) Modelling Magneto-Optical Resonances in Atomic Rubidium at D1 Excitation in Extremely Thin Cells While Maintaining a Self-Consistent Set of Theoretical Parameters (L Kalvans et al.) Laser Isotope Separation in Atomic Vapour. Photo-Chemical Method vs Photo-Ionization One (P A Bokhan et al.) Two-Dimensional Confined Terahertz Wave Propagation in Gap Plasmon Waveguide Formed by Two Cyclindrical Surfaces (Yu H Avetisyan et al.) Broadband Similariton: Features and Applications (A Zeytunyan et al.).
Over the past ten years, our group has investigated the effects of confinement on atoms inside metallic micron–sized cavities in order to elucidate some basic phenomena in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The first of these was the inhibition of spontaneous emission from an atom inside a cavity. This was followed by a laser spectroscopic measurement of the van der Waals interaction between a single Rydberg atom and a gold cavity, which showed that a simple electrostatic model of the atom–cavity interaction is correct when the cavity is small enough. More recently, the retarded Casimir–Polder force was measured between a ground state sodium atom and a large cavity, demonstrating that the van der Waals potential fails at long enough range and that the vacuum fluctuations of the field then have an important role in the interaction of the atom with the cavity. Our group is now pushing forward these investigations to study cavities whose walls have losses and dispersion, where the theory of cavity QED is significantly more complicated. With real surfaces, we have to deal with the complex dielectric response ε(ω) of the material, which exhibits frequency–dependent absorption and dispersion. One particularly interesting case is when a downward transition in the atom is resonant with an excitation of the cavity walls. This opens a new branch for the atomic decay: as an alternative to creating a photon within the space surrounded by the cavity walls the atomic decay can now create an electromagnetic excitation of the walls themselves. Another novel feature of our experiments is that the Bohr frequencies of the atom are close to the kT/h, where T is room temperature. We therefore expect to be able to measure effects associated with QED at finite temperature; in other words, to study how the blackbody radiation affects our experiments. By conducting experiments with real surfaces, we hope to elucidate and perhaps simplify the theoretical models used to describe these systems.
We have investigated the spontaneous radiative decay of resonant nuclei in a planar x-ray waveguide after excitation by synchrotron radiation pulses. The waveguide acts as a cavity and modifies the mode structure of the electromagnetic field. As a result, the rate of spontaneous emission is enhanced by a factor proportional to the density of photon states in the cavity. In this experiment, we have observed a sixfold acceleration of the coherent radiative decay of 57Fe nuclei located in the center of the first-order guided mode. This is in very good agreement with theoretical predictions.