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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Dark state atom mirrors based on artificial gauge fields created by surface optical vortices

V. E. Lembessis, Anwar Al Rsheed, A. Lyras, Omar Marzook Al-Dossary

Published Mar 15, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose the construction of an atom mirror for cold three-level atoms in a dark state where the forces, responsible for the atomic reflection, are provided by artificial gauge fields. These fields are created from the total internal reflection of optical vortex beams with Gaussian intensity profiles at the interface of a dielectric prism and vacuum. We investigate the role of the photon angular momentum in the magnitude of these fields and consequently on the efficiency of atomic reflection.

DOI
10.1364/josab.36.000971

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We propose the construction of an atom mirror for cold three-level atoms in a dark state where the forces, responsible for the atomic reflection, are provided by artificial gauge fields. These fields are created from the total internal reflection of optical vortex beams with Gaussian intensity profiles at the interface of a dielectric prism and vacuum. We investigate the role of the photon angular momentum in the magnitude of these fields and consequently on the efficiency of atomic reflection.
We propose atom mirror schemes for a three-level atom of Λ-type interacting with two evanescent fields, which are generated as a result of the total internal reflection of two coherent Gaussian laser beams at the interface of a dielectric prism with vacuum. The forces acting on the atom are derived by means of optical Bloch equations, based on the atomic density matrix elements. The theory is illustrated by setting up the equations of motion for 23Na atom. Two types of excited schemes are examined, namely the cases in which the evanescent fields have polarization types of and . The equations are solved numerically and we get results for atomic trajectories for different parameters. The performance of the mirror for the two types of polarization schemes is quantified and discussed. The possibility of reflecting atoms at pre-determined directions is also discussed.
We show that atoms interacting with evanescent light fields, generated at the interface of a dielectric with vacuum, experience artificial gauge potentials. Both the magnitude and the spatial distribution of these potentials depend crucially on the physical parameters that characterize the evanescent fields most notably the refractive index of the dielectric material and the angle of incidence of the laser beam totally internally reflected at the interface. Gauge fields are derived for various evanescent light fields and for both two-level and three-level systems. The use of such artificial gauge potentials for the manipulation of atoms trapped at the interfaces is pointed out and discussed.
We show that atoms interacting with evanescent light fields, generated at the interface of a dielectric with vacuum, experience artificial gauge potentials. These potentials depend crucially on the physical parameters which characterize the evanescent fields most notably the refractive index of the dielectric material and the angle of incidence of the laser beam totally internaly reflected at the interface. Gauge fields are derived for various evanescent light fields and for both two-level and three-level systems. The use of such artificial gauge potentials for the manipulation of atoms trapped at the interfaces is pointed out and discussed.
Cook and Hill suggested that the gradient of an optical field can be used to reflect atoms. To reflect atoms, the repulsive dipole force is used, which comes from the interaction between the electric dipole moment of atoms and the evanescent field. The evanescent wave is generated when light is totally reflected internally at the interface of different refractive indices. Later, the way to enhance the evanescent wave with a thin dielectric waveguide has been reported. We designed the atomic mirror for silicon atoms, whose structure enhances the evanescent field that is used to repel silicon atoms. We also set up the equations of motion for silicon atoms and derive trajectories of the atoms reflected by the atomic mirror. Optical intensity, incident angle of the light, and effective detuning are described in terms of controlling the trajectory of the atom.
We propose a scheme to realize persistent mass and spin currents in cold atoms using optically generated gauge potentials. Two degenerate dark states can be created by coupling ``tripod'' atoms to three Laguerre-Gaussian laser beams carrying relative orbital angular momentum. Atoms in these dark states feel opposite effective magnetic fields of the flux-tube type and circulate in opposite directions around the axis of the tube, generating persistent mass currents in the system. Persistent spin currents can also be generated, with or without spin polarization.