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CRC Press eBooks

Channelling of atoms in a standing laser light wave

V. I. Balykin, Vladilen S Letokhov, Yu. B. Ovchinnikov

Published Jul 16, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This chapter reviews the investigations performed at the Institute of Spectroscopy into this non-linear optic effect. The motion of an atom in a standing light wave is governed by the gradient force of potential nature. When the atomic transition saturation parameter is much less than unity and the atom-light-field interaction time is such that the change in the atomic momentum due to friction and diffusion is insignificant, both the friction force and atomic momentum diffusion can be disregarded. One of the manifestations of the atomic channelling effect in a standing light wave is the concentration of atoms near the nodes or loops of the wave. An atom can be localized in a spherical standing light wave if its trajectory is tangent to the wave front at the entrance point, the gradient force exceeds the centrifugal force, and the field intensity grows higher in the direction of atomic motion.

DOI
10.1201/9781003209638-1

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Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics•Nov 30, 1986•1 citation
This chapter reviews the investigations performed at the Institute of Spectroscopy into this non-linear optic effect. The motion of an atom in a standing light wave is governed by the gradient force of potential nature. When the atomic transition saturation parameter is much less than unity and the atom-light-field interaction time is such that the change in the atomic momentum due to friction and diffusion is insignificant, both the friction force and atomic momentum diffusion can be disregarded. One of the manifestations of the atomic channelling effect in a standing light wave is the concentration of atoms near the nodes or loops of the wave. An atom can be localized in a spherical standing light wave if its trajectory is tangent to the wave front at the entrance point, the gradient force exceeds the centrifugal force, and the field intensity grows higher in the direction of atomic motion.
We have investigated the localization of atoms in two configurations of laser fields: monochromatic and bichromatic standing waves. A quasi resonant monochromatic laser field creates a spatially periodic potential field with period equal to half of the wavelength. If the atomic kinetic energy is less than the height of the potential wells then atoms could be trapped in the wells. The motion of atoms in a standing wave is governed by the gradient force, friction force, and momentum diffusion. We studied one dimensional localization of sodium atoms in such a standing wave, as well as the influence of friction and diffusion on the motion of these atoms. The effect of accumulation of atoms at the bottom of potential wells (nodes of a standing wave) was observed. This leads to a new scheme of laser cooling of atoms with a minimum temperature below the Doppler limit.
The effect of the dipole force and its fluctuation on the motion of Li atoms in an intense, one-dimensional, near-resonant standing light wave has been investigated, both theoretically and experimentally. The duration of the interaction of the atoms with the standing wave was varied from several tens of spontaneous emission lifetimes to several hundred. For a standing wave frequency blue-detuned from resonance, diffusive heating can dominate the time-averaged dissipative dipole force so that there is no steady-state momentum distribution. However, for sufficiently large blue detunings the rate of diffusion is so slow that the resulting distribution approaches a quasi-steady state. For red detunings the diffusion is balanced with the force and a true steady-state is achieved. A Monte Carlo method based on the density matrix equations in the dressed-state representation is applied to simulate the atomic motion. The dynamics of atom channeling is studied. One of the important applications of this investigation is adiabatic laser cooling of atoms. Lithium atoms channeled in the nodes of an intense standing wave radiation field are cooled to near the recoil limit, a single photon's momentum hbark\\hbar{k}hbark, by adiabatically reducing the radiation intensity. The final momentum distribution has a narrow component with a root mean squared momentum of 2 hbark\\hbar{k}hbark in one-dimension. The data are compared with the results obtained by the Monte Carlo method. This process may be useful for cooling and increasing the phase-space density of atoms confined in a magnetic trap.
We have investigated the effect of the dipole force and its fluctuation on the motion of Li atoms in an intense, one-dimensional, near-resonant standing light wave. The duration of the interaction of the atoms with the standing wave was varied from several tens of spontaneous-emission lifetimes to several hundreds. For a standing-wave frequency blue detuned from resonance, diffusive heating can dominate the time-averaged dissipative dipole force so that there is no steady-state momentum distribution. However, for sufficiently large blue detunings, the rate of diffusion is so slow that the resulting distribution approaches a quasisteady state. For red detunings, the diffusion is balanced with the force and a true steady state is achieved. We apply a Monte Carlo method based on the density-matrix equations in the dressed-state representation to simulate the atomic motion. The dynamics of atom channeling is discussed.
In quantum optical problems involving the interaction of atoms with laser fields, the atoms are usually considered being stationary during the interaction. Since every photon has a momentum, the atomic momentum (motion) can be changed in the process of absorption and emission of photons. This may force a stationary atom to move or to change momentum of an already moving atom. Therefore, the dynamical behaviour of atoms can be varied by the interaction with a radiation field. For a weak driving field, the influence of this field on the atomic motion can be neglected. However, the intensities of laser fields are generally very strong, and then the motion of the atoms can be considerably changed by the laser field. Here, we discuss this aspect, especially the effect of a driving field on the motion of atoms and the atomic momentum distribution. In particular, we will consider diffraction of atoms by a standing-wave laser field due to an exchange of momentum with the photons of the wave, and radiation force on atoms driven by a running-or standing-wave laser field.