Atom optics and ultrafast dynamics

Anne L’Huillier

Jan Michael Rost

Ruwan Senaratne, S. Rajagopal, Toshihiko Shimasaki +5 more

Ultrafast electronic dynamics are typically studied using pulsed lasers. Here we demonstrate a complementary experimental approach: quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms. Counter-intuitively, this technique emulates some of the fastest processes in atomic physics with some of the slowest, leading to a temporal magnification factor of up to 12 orders of magnitude. In these experiments, time-varying forces on neutral atoms in the ground state of a tunable optical trap emulate the electric fields of a pulsed laser acting on bound charged particles. We demonstrate the correspondence with ultrafast science by a sequence of experiments: nonlinear spectroscopy of a many-body bound state, control of the excitation spectrum by potential shaping, observation of sub-cycle unbinding dynamics during strong few-cycle pulses, and direct measurement of carrier-envelope phase dependence of the response to an ultrafast-equivalent pulse. These results establish cold-atom quantum simulation as a complementary tool for studying ultrafast dynamics.

Sigurd Dyrting, Wenyu Chen, Gerard J Milburn

Ruwan Senaratne, Shankari V. Rajagopal, Toshihiko Shimasaki +5 more

Abstract Ultrafast electronic dynamics are typically studied using pulsed lasers. Here we demonstrate a complementary experimental approach: quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms. Counter-intuitively, this technique emulates some of the fastest processes in atomic physics with some of the slowest, leading to a temporal magnification factor of up to 12 orders of magnitude. In these experiments, time-varying forces on neutral atoms in the ground state of a tunable optical trap emulate the electric fields of a pulsed laser acting on bound charged particles. We demonstrate the correspondence with ultrafast science by a sequence of experiments: nonlinear spectroscopy of a many-body bound state, control of the excitation spectrum by potential shaping, observation of sub-cycle unbinding dynamics during strong few-cycle pulses, and direct measurement of carrier-envelope phase dependence of the response to an ultrafast-equivalent pulse. These results establish cold-atom quantum simulation as a complementary tool for studying ultrafast dynamics.

Sheng Lan, Venu Gopal Achanta, Kyozo Kanamoto +1 more

We investigate the response of photonic crystal (PC) atoms with Kerr nonlinearity to the excitation of ultrashort optical pulses. Surprisingly, it is found that PC atoms with sharp resonant peaks in frequency spectrum (or with large quality factors) can respond to ultrashort pulses very rapidly when Kerr nonlinearity is introduced. More interestingly, the response time under high-power densities can be even shorter than the duration of the pump pulse. It is revealed that the nonlinearity induced broadening of dynamical frequency spectrum is responsible for the ultrafast response time, implying the possibility of ultrafast all-optical switching.