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Physical Review A

Survival resonances in an atom-optics system driven by temporally and spatially periodic dissipation

Shijie Chai, J. Fekete, Peter D. McDowall, Simon Coop, Thue Bjerring Lindballe, Mikkel F. Andersen

Published Mar 22, 2018• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate laser-cooled atoms periodically driven by pulsed standing waves of light tuned close to an open atomic transition. This nonunitary system displays survival resonances for certain driving frequencies. The survival resonances emerge as a result of the matter-wave Talbot-Lau effect, similar to the Talbot effect causing quantum resonances in the atom optics $\ensuremath{\delta}$-kicked rotor. Since the Talbot-Lau effect occurs for incoherent waves, the survival resonances can be observed using thermal atoms. A microlensing effect can enhance the height and incisiveness of the resonances. This may find applications in precision measurements.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.97.033616

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We investigate laser-cooled atoms periodically driven by pulsed standing waves of light tuned close to an open atomic transition. This nonunitary system displays survival resonances for certain driving frequencies. The survival resonances emerge as a result of the matter-wave Talbot-Lau effect, similar to the Talbot effect causing quantum resonances in the atom optics \ensuremathδ\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremathδ-kicked rotor. Since the Talbot-Lau effect occurs for incoherent waves, the survival resonances can be observed using thermal atoms. A microlensing effect can enhance the height and incisiveness of the resonances. This may find applications in precision measurements.
This thesis presents the experimental and theoretical studies of the survival resonances in a dissipative atom-optics system, and their applications. We demonstrate this resonant phenomenon by using an alternative approach to the standard atom-optics delta\\deltadelta-kicked rotor (AODKR), where we add spatially periodic dissipation or loss to each pulse. The system evolution is therefore non-unitary.\n\nWe first investigate the emergence of the survival resonances by exposing a cloud of laser-cooled Rubidium-85 atoms to standing-wave light pulses. The frequency of the light is tuned close to an open atomic transition. Scattering of the light from the standing wave leads the atoms to decay into a dark state that is far-off-resonance to both the standing-wave light and the subsequent detection light. Once the atoms go to the dark state, they are considered to be lost. The atom number is thereby {\\it not} a conserved quantity. Consequently, a meaningful dynamic observable is the survival probability of the atoms. Varying the pulse interval reveals a series of resonant peaks at integer multiples of half the Talbot time. These peaks are deemed survival resonances and are a matter-wave interferometric phenomenon. The appearance of the peaks can be conceptually understood through the matter-wave Talbot-Lau effect. For a complete understanding, we build a model to simulate the system which captures the dynamics well.\n\nIn addition to acting as an optical mask that modulates the wave functions' amplitude, the still present optical dipole force of the standing wave imprints a phase pattern to the atomic wave functions. This gives rise to a micro-lensing effect that increases the peak survival dramatically. Using such an effect can help to enhance the incisiveness of the resonances, which might find applications in precision measurements.\n\nThe width of survival resonance peaks narrows faster than expected from the Fourier-limit when the pulse number is changed. The standard AODKR displays a similar sub-Fourier behavior.\n\nThis thesis also demonstrates two applications of using survival resonances. The temporally pulsed spatially periodic dissipation is used for preparing well-defined initial conditions. Feeding back lost atoms gives a non-thermal atomic state that enhances subsequent survival resonance measurements. This can find its application in the state preparation in atom interferometry.\n\nTo show the feasibility of using survival resonances in an atom interferometer, we construct a proof-of-concept atomic gravimeter. With a vertically arranged standing-wave light beam, we perform an interferometric measurement of the gravitational acceleration ggg utilizing the survival resonances. Gravity removes the survival resonances, but they re-emerge when the standing wave co-moves with the free-falling atomic cloud. To study the performance of this technique and find a good parameter combination, we carry out a series of simulations and experiments. We measure ggg with a precision of 5 ppm using a drop distance of less than 1 mm. The sensitivity improves with the square of the drop time, which indicates we can reach a precision of the mu\\mumu-Gal regime with a drop distance of 10 cm. The simple implementation makes this technique an attractive candidate for a low cost and compact atomic gravimeter.
We have observed high-order quantum resonances in a realization of the quantum delta-kicked rotor, using Bose-condensed Na atoms subjected to a pulsed standing wave of laser light. These resonances occur for pulse intervals that are rational fractions of the Talbot time, and are characterized by ballistic momentum transfer to the atoms. The condensate's narrow momentum distribution not only permits the observation of the quantum resonances at 3/4 and 1/3 of the Talbot time, but also allows us to study scaling laws for the resonance width in quasimomentum and pulse interval.
We do a proof-of-principle demonstration of an atomic gravimeter based on survival resonances of dissipatively driven atoms. Exposing laser-cooled atoms to a sequence of near-resonant standing-wave light pulses reveals survival resonances when the standing-wave interference pattern accelerates. The resonant accelerations determine the local gravitational acceleration and we achieve a precision of 5 ppm with a drop distance less than 1 mm. The incisiveness of the resonances scales with the square of the drop time. Present results indicate that an appropriately designed atomic gravimeter based on survival resonances might be able to reach a precision of $1\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{Gal}$ with a 10-cm-high fountain. The relatively simple experimental construction of this technique may be of interest for a compact absolute atomic gravimeter.
In this thesis we investigate quantum resonant effects in the atom-optical ὁ-kicked accelerator. Using Floquet analysis, we theoretically study the time evolution of quantum systems which have a classical counterpart that exhibits chaotic dynamics. We introduce quantum resonance and quantum antiresonance features of the quantum ὁ -kicked rotor by setting the pulse period to an integer multiple of the half-Talbot time. The model is generalised to the atom-optical ὁ -kicked accelerator by considering thermal alkali atoms subject to a periodically pulsed standing wave potential formed from counter-propagating laser beams. The dynamics of the momentum distribution is analysed by evaluating the momentum moments and momentum cumulants. We derive analytic solutions for these observables for the ultracold and thermal limiting cases, and observe fractional quantum resonant phenomena. Simulations have been developed to examine the time evolution for individual momentum eigenstates, which we use to construct a non-interacting finite temperature gas, based upon a Monte Carlo method. We investigate the temperature dependence of the ὁ-kicked rotor, neglecting gravitational effects, and show that the atomic dynamics is highly sensitive to the initial momentum width of the gas. A generalisation of the model to quantify the transition between the ultracold and thermal temperature regimes of the atom-optical ὁ -kicked accelerator is examined using linear regression analysis. High order quantum resonance features are found to be sensitive to the relative acceleration between the atomic gas and the pulsed optical standing wave. We assess the dependence of the ὁ -kicked accelerator upon gravitational acceleration, quantifying the width of the high order quantum resonance features, which we use to assess the prospect for precision measurement using a finite temperature gas.
We have demonstrated the Talbot-Lau effect for atomic de Broglie waves in the time domain. This effect is based on Fresnel diffraction of matter waves from an incoherent source. In the experiment, de Broglie waves of atoms in a particular internal state have been manipulated and the resulting density directly imaged by resonant optical fields. These experiments allow us to probe the quantum dynamics of the atomic center of mass. We have also used this effect to create patterns in the density of the atoms with period as small as 1∕101∕101∕10 of the optical wavelength, demonstrating the potential application of this technique for atom nanofabrication.
We investigate a scheme that enhances survival resonances in a δ-killed system through actively recycling lost atoms.The process causes atoms to dissipate into superpositions of momentum states with sustained survival when exposed to kicks of a dissipative optical standing wave.The recycling process causes momentum redistribution, which gives the atoms multiple chances to enter a long-surviving mode.The survival resonance peak height shows an improvement of a factor of 2.4.This technique can increase the sensitivity and precision of atomic interferometers based on survival resonances.