Controlling atomic motion with optical dipole potentials

Mark G. Raizen

Summary form only given. We report recent results and progress on the use of optical dipole potentials for quantum state preparation in the study of quantum chaos in mixed phase space, and for detection and feedback control ol atomic motion.

Martin C. Fischer

Harold J. Metcalf

Mingjie Xin, Wui Seng Leong, Zilong Chen +1 more

We present a study of Doppler-sensitive light-pulse atom interferometers operating within optical dipole potentials, where atomic trajectories are manipulated using momentum transfer from light pulses and optical forces from the trap. Efficient methods are introduced to minimize the inhomogeneous broadening of oscillation frequencies in atoms confined within a three-dimensional optical lattice trap. These techniques enable the preparation of various quantum states, including vacuum, thermal, and squeezed states, for atom interferometry. Additionally, we demonstrate a two-dimensional atom interferometer using a single optical dipole trap, where transverse motion is activated by offsetting the trap position. Our work provides insights into controlling the mechanical motion of neutral atoms in optical harmonic potentials and contributes to advancing applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing.

Xiong-Jun Liu, Xin Liu, L. C. Kwek +1 more

A. Bulatov, Boris E. Vugmeister, Alexander L. Burin +1 more

We investigate coherent control of atomic translational motion in an applied off-resonance dipole optical potential. Since spontaneous emission can be neglected in this regime, the problem is treated as one of coherent momentum transfer. We consider both adiabatic and nonadiabatic regimes of cooling in the framework of the Wigner function formalism. For the adiabatic case, an approximate solution is obtained corresponding to the cooling envelope for an arbitrary time dependence of the external field. The nonadiabatic cooling process is formulated in terms of optimal control theory in order to define the most favorable regime of cooling under imposed constraints on the intensity of the control field. We find that the applied control field yields a significant reduction of the effective temperature of the atoms.