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CRC Press eBooks

Radiation Forces for Manipulation of Atoms

V. I. Balykin, Vladilen S Letokhov

Published Apr 23, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Depending on the spatial and temporal structure of light field, its strength and wavelength, the radiation force may be a very complex function of the atoms position and velocity. But, since all the known studies on the application of the radiation forces have been carried out mainly using three types of light fields, namely, a plane traveling light field, a Gaussian laser beam and a standing light wave, or their combination, this chapter restricts to qualitative consideration of these types of fields only. At low radiation intensity and for a two level atom the radiation force in the standing wave is determined by the sum of the forces from each traveling waves. In the presence of static magnetic field the radiative forces acting on a multilevel atom in a laser field may acquire new properties. Of particular interest for the creation of new types of atomic traps is a confining potential — like character of the radiation force.

DOI
10.1201/9780429333378-2

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Depending on the spatial and temporal structure of light field, its strength and wavelength, the radiation force may be a very complex function of the atoms position and velocity. But, since all the known studies on the application of the radiation forces have been carried out mainly using three types of light fields, namely, a plane traveling light field, a Gaussian laser beam and a standing light wave, or their combination, this chapter restricts to qualitative consideration of these types of fields only. At low radiation intensity and for a two level atom the radiation force in the standing wave is determined by the sum of the forces from each traveling waves. In the presence of static magnetic field the radiative forces acting on a multilevel atom in a laser field may acquire new properties. Of particular interest for the creation of new types of atomic traps is a confining potential — like character of the radiation force.
The radiation force on a moving atom in a bichromatical travelling field is investigated in this paper. The relation of the atomic stimulated transition rate and the radiation force on the atom with its velocity in a bichromatical travelling wave is obtained by numberical calculation. Compared with that in a monochromatical travelling or a standing wave, the result in the bichromatical field have its own character, which is useful in the investigation of laser cooling of neutral atoms, selection of atomic velocity and atomic mometum diffusion.
We have recently begun to explore the very strong optical forces that can be exerted on atoms by polychromatic light. Unlike the radiative force that is limited to be less than ℏkγ/2 in monochromatic light or the dipole force that alternates on a wavelength scale in a monochromatic standing wave, limiting its utility, these new forces have very attractive features. Not only is their strength far greater than Frad, but also their velocity range is far greater than γ/k, so that beam slowing can be accomplished without Doppler compensation in distances measured in millimeters instead of meters. These forces have been implemented by modulation of a single-frequency laser or by combination of the light of two different single-frequency lasers.
The present state of research on the cooling of atomic ensembles by means of laser radiation pressure is discussed. First the basic theory of resonance radiation pressure is reviewed. The effect of recoil on the drift and fluctuations of the momentum of an atom interacting with resonance radiation is examined. There is an analysis of the forces acting on an atom in some simple light fields: a traveling plane wave, a Gaussian beam, and counterpropagating Gaussian beams. The review then focuses on the monochromatization of atoms by resonance radiation pressure and related methods for laser cooling of atoms. The roles played by the radiation pressure force and by momentum diffusion in shaping the narrow velocity distributions of the ensemble of atoms are analyzed. The lowest temperature obtainable in the radiation cooling of atoms is estimated. The basic experimental methods for laser cooling of atomic beams are described. Problems of the three-dimensional cooling of atomic ensembles and problems of localizing cold atoms in light fields, steady-state magnetic fields, and electrostatic fields are discussed. The review concludes with a discussion of some applications of cold atoms in high-precision spectroscopy, frequency standards, and atomic physics.
It has been known for some time that the interaction of laser light with a free atom can give rise to electromagnetic pressure forces that act on its centre of mass. These forces have been extensively examined both theoretically and experimentally: see, for example Metcalf and van der Straten (5.1) or Adams and Riis (5.2). A simple model of a two-level atom subject to a plane electromagnetic wave may be shown to give rise to two kinds of force acting on the atom centre of mass. These are, a dissipative force arising from the absorption of the light by the atom and its subsequent spontaneous emission in a random direction and a dipole force arising from the non-uniformity of the field distribution which can attract the atom to the regions of intense field. These forces underpin the manipulation of atoms by lasers in a variety of beam configurations. The dissipative force has been exploited in the Doppler cooling of the atomic motion (5.3, 5.4) and the dipole force used for trapping (5.5), while a combination of these effects has led to the realisation of Bose-Einstein condensation (5.6). These forces are, of course, closely related to the ones discussed in Section 4.