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Long-range 1D gravitational-like interaction in a neutral atomic cold gas

Maryvonne Chalony, Julien Barré, B. Marcos, Alain Olivetti, David Wilkowski

Published Jan 9, 2013• 0 citations
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Abstract

A quasi-resonant laser induces a long-range attractive force within a cloud of cold atoms. We take advantage of this force to build in the laboratory a system of particles with a one-dimensional gravitational-like interaction, at a fluid level of modeling. We give experimental evidences of such an interaction in a cold Strontium gas, studying the density profile of the cloud, its size as a function of the number of atoms, and its breathing oscillations. PACS numbers: 37.10.De, 05.20.Jj, 04.80.Cc, 37.10.Gh,04.40.-b

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A quasi-resonant laser induces a long-range attractive force within a cloud of cold atoms. We take advantage of this force to build in the laboratory a system of particles with a one-dimensional gravitational-like interaction, at a fluid level of modeling. We give experimental evidences of such an interaction in a cold Strontium gas, studying the density profile of the cloud, its size as a function of the number of atoms, and its breathing oscillations. PACS numbers: 37.10.De, 05.20.Jj, 04.80.Cc, 37.10.Gh,04.40.-b
In two dimensions, a system of self-gravitating particles collapses and forms a singularity in finite time below a critical temperature Tc{T}_{c}Tc​. We investigate experimentally a quasi-two-dimensional cloud of cold neutral atoms in interaction with two pairs of perpendicular counterpropagating quasiresonant laser beams, in order to look for a signature of this ideal phase transition: indeed, the radiation pressure forces exerted by the laser beams can be viewed as an anisotropic, and nonpotential, generalization of two-dimensional self-gravity. We first show that our experiment operates in a parameter range which should be suitable to observe the collapse transition. However, the experiment unveils only a moderate compression instead of a phase transition between the two phases. A three-dimensional numerical simulation shows that both the finite small thickness of the cloud, which induces a competition between the effective gravity force and the repulsive force due to multiple scattering, and the atomic losses due to heating in the third dimension contribute to smearing the transition.
Ce mémoire présente les résultats expérimentaux obtenus sur un nuage d'atomes froids de Strontium 88.Une première étude permet l'observation expérimentale inédite d'un système quasi-1D présentant une interaction attractive à longue portée type gravitationnel. Elle provient d'une force attractive due à l'effet d'ombre qui apparaît lors de l'absorption des faisceaux lasers par l'échantillon atomique. Nous avons ainsi retrouvé un profil de densité suivant un cosh-2 ainsi qu'une signature sur le mode de respiration du nuage. Une seconde étude est menée sur la transmission cohérente par un nuage de diffuseurs. Des processus de décohérence du champ transmis ont été mis en évidence, faisant ainsi apparaître de nouvelles échelles de temps caractéristiques liées à la température et à l'épaisseur optique du milieu diffusant. Nous avons également fait apparaître l'évolution de la phase entre les champs incident et transmis en fonction de l'épaisseur optique du milieu.
We study the long-range force arising from the absorption of non-saturating laser beams in a two-dimensional cloud of cold atoms. The force created by the lasers is attractive and similar to the usual Newtonian gravity along the beam. The cloud is composed of bosonic strontium 88 cooled and trapped on the intercombination line. Transferring the atoms in a two-dimensional optical dipole trap in a magical wavelength configuration, a canonical non-equilibrium phase transition is expected. Below a critical temperature, selfgravitating particles in two dimensions can collapse, nearly by the same mechanism stars are forming. We observed experimentally transient compressions, a halfway satisfactory result originating from the power limitation of our dipole trap. The second part of the thesis focuses on the theoretical realization a minimal Brownian motor within a system of trapped particles in 2D, similarly to our experimental situation. The phenomenon characterizing the Brownian motor is the appearance of a macroscopic current of particles. We have shown that this direct transport of particles is independent of the details of the trapping potential and obtained if and only if two symmetries are jointly broken: By the presence of two heat baths along orthogonal directions together and an anisotropic trap misaligned from the temperature axes.