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Optik

Radiation forces and compression of neutral particles by an optical lens

Georgi Petkov Yankov, Ekaterina Iordanova, L. M. Kovachev

Published Dec 19, 2022• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The ultra-short optical pulses can be used for the confinement of neutral particles by an additional optical longitudinal force, connected with the Poynting vector and the influence of the magnetic field on their polarizability. The Poynting vector is connected also to the intensity of the electromagnetic field. On other hand, the intensity of a laser pulse can be manipulated by an optical lens, and thus, indirectly, the optical force can be increased or decreased or its direction to be changed. This in turn enables a unique possibility for the compression of neutral atoms, molecules, and particles into the focus of the lens. Here, we reported on an experimental study of neutral particle confinement in the focus of femtosecond laser pulses and further confirmed by a theoretical investigation. The findings demonstrate an innovative approach to the compression and confinement of neutral particles within the focal plane of a lens and their further manipulation. Feasible applications could be in the field of cold nuclear fusion and cooling of light-neutral atoms and molecules.

DOI
10.1016/j.ijleo.2022.170452

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The ultra-short optical pulses can be used for the confinement of neutral particles by an additional optical longitudinal force, connected with the Poynting vector and the influence of the magnetic field on their polarizability. The Poynting vector is connected also to the intensity of the electromagnetic field. On other hand, the intensity of a laser pulse can be manipulated by an optical lens, and thus, indirectly, the optical force can be increased or decreased or its direction to be changed. This in turn enables a unique possibility for the compression of neutral atoms, molecules, and particles into the focus of the lens. Here, we reported on an experimental study of neutral particle confinement in the focus of femtosecond laser pulses and further confirmed by a theoretical investigation. The findings demonstrate an innovative approach to the compression and confinement of neutral particles within the focal plane of a lens and their further manipulation. Feasible applications could be in the field of cold nuclear fusion and cooling of light-neutral atoms and molecules.
In the field of atom optics, there has been much interests in developing components such as lenses, mirrors, beam splitters and waveguides to manipulate neutral atoms. Especially many clever methods to focus neutral atoms have been developed. The lenses have been constructed using the static electrical and magnetic fields, Fresnel zone plates, and radiation pressure forces. Before the laser cooling and trapping techniques were invented, the electrostatic fields could not be used for manipulating neutral atoms because of its weak interaction energy with atoms. After the cold atoms were available, it has been possible to manipulate atoms with weak electrostatic interaction energy. We developed an atom lens system using electrostatic fields.
We analyze the light-induced atom–atom interactions in optically thick atomic clouds and show that, when the laser frequency is on-resonance with the atomic transition, they become attractive. On the basis of this analysis we propose and demonstrate a novel scheme to compress a cold and dense atomic cloud with a short on-resonance laser pulse. The compression force arises from attenuation of the laser light by the atomic cloud. The following free propagation of the atoms shows a lenslike behavior that yields a transient density increase at the focal time, where neither laser nor magnetic field perturbations exist. A cooling pulse, which is applied at the focal time of this lens, restores the initial temperature of atoms, and hence the phase space density is increased. Finally, we adopt our compression scheme to a quasi-steady-state mode by temporally chopping it with the cooling and trapping beams of a magnet-optical trap.
The optical forces on neutral two-level atoms by the subcycle pulsed focused vector field are investigated by numerically solving the density-matrix equations without the rotating-wave approximation. The phenomena of focusing or defocusing of the neutral atom are analyzed. For the transverse optical force, an acceleration of an atom that is 10 orders of magnitude higher than the Earth's gravitational acceleration ggg can be obtained. The optical force can change from a focusing force to a defocusing force depending on the initial state of the atom. The optical potential may be used to trap the neutral two-level atoms in the experiment of cold atoms.
This important volume contains selected papers and extensive commentaries on laser trapping and manipulation of neutral particles using radiation pressure forces. Such techniques apply to a variety of small particles, such as atoms, molecules, macroscopic dielectric particles, living cells, and organelles within cells. These optical methods have had a revolutionary impact on the fields of atomic and molecular physics, biophysics, and many aspects of nanotechnology.In atomic physics, the trapping and cooling of atoms down to nanokelvins and even picokelvin temperatures are possible. These are the lowest temperatures in the universe. This made possible the first demonstration of Bose–Einstein condensation of atomic and molecular vapors. Some of the applications are high precision atomic clocks, gyroscopes, the measurement of gravity, cryptology, atomic computers, cavity quantum electrodynamics and coherent atom lasers.A major application in biophysics is the study of the mechanical properties of the many types of motor molecules, mechanoenzymes, and other macromolecules responsible for the motion of organelles within cells and the locomotion of entire cells. Unique in vitro and in vivo assays study the driving forces, stepping motion, kinetics, and efficiency of these motors as they move along the cell's cytoskeleton. Positional and temporal resolutions have been achieved, making possible the study of RNA and DNA polymerases, as they undergo their various copying, backtracking, and error correcting functions on a single base pair basis.Many applications in nanotechnology involve particle and cell sorting, particle rotation, microfabrication of simple machines, microfluidics, and other micrometer devices. The number of applications continues to grow at a rapid rate.The author is the discoverer of optical trapping and optical tweezers. With his colleagues, he first demonstrated optical levitation, the trapping of atoms, and tweezer trapping and manipulation of living cells and biological particles.This is the only review volume covering the many fields of optical trapping and manipulation. The intention is to provide a selective guide to the literature and to teach how optical traps really work.
The principal element in any sort of optics is a lens. It is essential to create laser field configurations capable of focusing neutral atomic beams. There are two possibilities for focusing an atomic beam by laser light: by using the gradient force or by using the light pressure force. The force effecting the focusing of an atom in a beam should be proportional to the atomic displacement. This criterion must be satisfied for the force to produce the true “image”: if this criteria is not met, the image is blurred, i.e. there are aberrations. An approach to treat the focusing of atomic beam by laser light is to use the path integral technique to calculate the evolution of atomic wave function as it propagates in laser field. A particle-optical approach also can be used for treatment of focusing of atoms by laser light. The quadratic radial dependence of the potential is a necessary condition for focusing of atoms.