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Optica

Optical Bloch oscillation and Zener tunneling in an atomic system

Yiqi Zhang, Da Zhang, Zhaoyang Zhang, Changbiao Li, Yanpeng Zhang, Fuli Li, Milivoj R. Belić, Min Xiao

Published May 18, 2017• 55 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Atomic media are important in optics research since they can be conveniently manipulated and controlled due to easy selection of atomic levels, laser fields, and the active adjustment of many system parameters. In this paper, we investigate optical Bloch oscillation, Zener tunneling, and Bloch–Zener oscillation in atomic media both theoretically and numerically. We use two coupling fields to prepare the dynamical optical lattice through interference. To induce a transverse force, we make the frequency difference between the two coupling fields increase linearly along the longitudinal coordinate. These phenomena have potential application for beam splitters and optical interconnects, and are helpful for investigating quantum analogies.

DOI
10.1364/optica.4.000571

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Atomic media are important in optics research since they can be conveniently manipulated and controlled due to easy selection of atomic levels, laser fields, and the active adjustment of many system parameters. In this paper, we investigate optical Bloch oscillation, Zener tunneling, and Bloch–Zener oscillation in atomic media both theoretically and numerically. We use two coupling fields to prepare the dynamical optical lattice through interference. To induce a transverse force, we make the frequency difference between the two coupling fields increase linearly along the longitudinal coordinate. These phenomena have potential application for beam splitters and optical interconnects, and are helpful for investigating quantum analogies.
We present theoretical and numerical results on the dynamics of ultracold atoms in an accelerated single- and double-periodic optical lattice. In the single-periodic potential Bloch oscillations can be used to generate fast directed transport with very little dispersion. The dynamics in the double-periodic system is dominated by Bloch-Zener oscillations, i.e. the interplay of Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling between the subbands. Apart from directed transport, the latter system permits various interesting applications, such as widely tunable matter wave beam splitters and Mach-Zehnder interferometry. As an application, a method for efficient probing of small nonlinear mean-field interactions is suggested. PACS numbers: 03.65.-w, 03.75.Be, 03.75.Dg, 03.75.LmManipulation of matter waves using Bloch and Bloch-Zener oscillations 2 1.
We present theoretical and numerical results on the dynamics of ultracold atoms in an accelerated single- and double-periodic optical lattice. In the single-periodic potential Bloch oscillations can be used to generate fast directed transport with very little dispersion. The dynamics in the double-periodic system is dominated by Bloch–Zener oscillations, i.e. the interplay of Bloch oscillations and Zener tunnelling between the subbands. Apart from directed transport, the latter system permits various interesting applications, such as widely tunable matter wave beam splitters and Mach–Zehnder interferometry. As an application, a method for efficient probing of small nonlinear mean-field interactions is suggested. Furthermore, the influence of the nonlinearity onto the Bloch bands, the breakdown of adiabaticity and the stability of the dynamics is discussed and analysed by numerical results.
We report on experiments investigating quantum transport and band interferometry of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice with a two-band miniband structure, realized with a Fourier-synthesized optical lattice potential. Bloch-Zener oscillations, the coherent superposition of Bloch oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling between the two bands, are observed. When the relative phase between paths in different bands is varied, an interference signal is observed, demonstrating the coherence of the dynamics in the miniband system. Measured fringe patterns of this Stückelberg interferometer allow us to interferometrically map out the band structure of the optical lattice over the full Brillouin zone.
We report on experiments investigating quantum transport and band interferometry of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice with a two-band miniband structure, realized with a Fourier-synthesized optical lattice potential. Bloch-Zener oscillations, the coherent superposition of Bloch oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling between the two bands are observed. When the relative phase between paths in different bands is varied, an interference signal is observed, demonstrating the coherence of the dynamics in the miniband system. Measured fringe patterns of this Stückelberg interferometer allow to interferometrically map out the band structure of the optical lattice over the full Brillouin zone.
A quantum theory of optical Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling (ZT) in arrays of coupled waveguides is theoretically presented, and the particlelike behavior of photons undergoing ZT is highlighted. In singly-periodic arrays excited by a photon-number-state input beam, each photon behaves as a classical particle which independently undergoes a coin-toss ZT event with a probability described by classical Zener theory. In binary arrays, excitation with two tilted beams enables us to observe the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference for two photons undergoing Bloch-Zener oscillations.
The optical Bloch oscillation (OBO) is an optical-quantum analogy effect that is significant for light field manipulations, such as light beam localization, oscillation and tunneling. As an intra-band oscillation, OBO was important for optical investigations in photonic lattices and atomic vapors over an extended period of time. However, OBO in reconfigurable platforms is still an open topic, even though tunability is highly desired in developing modern photonic techniques. Here we theoretically establish and experimentally demonstrate OBO in an electromagnetically induced photonic lattice with a ramping refractive index, established in a coherently-prepared three-level 85Rb atomic vapor under the electromagnetically induced transparency condition. This is achieved by interfering two coupling beams with Gaussian profiles and launching a probe beam that exhibits OBO within the resulting lattice. The induced reconfigurable photonic lattice possesses a transverse gradient, due to the innate edges of Gaussian beams, and sets a new stage for guiding the flow of light in periodic photonic environments. Our results should motivate better understanding of peculiar physical properties of an intriguing quantum-optical analogy in an atomic setting.