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Annual Meeting Optical Society of America

Radiation-induced collective phenomena in optical traps

Thad G Walker, David W. Sesko, Carl Wieman

Published Jan 1, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Collective motions are observed in optically thick clouds of optically trapped atoms.1,2 Manifestations of the collective behavior include multiple bistable transitions between spherical and ring-shaped spatial distributions of the atoms and clumps of atoms rotating about a core. Detailed studies of the spherical spatial distributions are consistent with predictions of a simple model of long-range interatomic forces that arise from the radiation fields of the atoms. In particular, radiation trapping produces a long-range repulsion between the atoms. Again, a simple model that includes this repulsion as well as a vortex force produced by appropriate alignment of the laser beams reproduces many features of the rings, including approximate sizes and orbital frequencies. The model does not, however, explain the bistable transitions or the orbiting clumps of atoms. Supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

DOI
10.1364/oam.1993.mqq.1

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Collective motions are observed in optically thick clouds of optically trapped atoms.1,2 Manifestations of the collective behavior include multiple bistable transitions between spherical and ring-shaped spatial distributions of the atoms and clumps of atoms rotating about a core. Detailed studies of the spherical spatial distributions are consistent with predictions of a simple model of long-range interatomic forces that arise from the radiation fields of the atoms. In particular, radiation trapping produces a long-range repulsion between the atoms. Again, a simple model that includes this repulsion as well as a vortex force produced by appropriate alignment of the laser beams reproduces many features of the rings, including approximate sizes and orbital frequencies. The model does not, however, explain the bistable transitions or the orbiting clumps of atoms. Supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
We describe experiments that show collective behavior in clouds of optically trapped neutral atoms. This collective behavior is demonstrated in a variety of observed spatial distributions with abrupt bistable transitions between them. These distributions include stable rings of atoms around a small core and clumps of atoms rotating about the core. The size of the cloud grows rapidly as more atoms are loaded into it, implying a strong long-range repulsive force between the atoms. We show that a force arising from radiation trapping can explain much of this behavior.
We describe experiments that show collective behavior in clouds of optically trapped neutral atoms.This collective behavior is demonstrated in a variety of observed spatial distributions with abrupt bistable transitions between them.These distributions include stable rings of atoms around a small core and clumps of atoms rotating about the core.The size of the cloud grows rapidly as more atoms are loaded into it, implying a strong long-range repulsive force between the atoms.We show that a force arising from radiation trapping can explain much of this behavior.
A classical collective behavior is observed in the spatial distributions of a cloud of optically trapped neutral atoms. They include extended uniform-density ellipsoids, rings of atoms around a small central ball, and clumps of atoms orbiting a central core. The distributions depend sensitively on the number of atoms and the alignment of the laser beams. Abrupt bistable transitions between different distributions are seen. This system is studied in detail, and much of this behavior can be explained by the incorporation of long-range interactions between the atoms in the equation of equilibrium. It is shown how attenuation and multiple scattering of the incident photons lead to these interactions.
We have studied the behavior of clouds of neutral atoms contained in a spontaneous force optical trap. Because of the low temperatures of the atoms (<1 mK) we have observed a variety of new phenomena which involve both short and long range interactions between the atoms. The short range interactions are manifested in two body collisions which are notable because of the very long collision times. This time scale causes the dynamics to be profoundly affected by absorption and spontaneous emission during the collision. An interesting assortment of collective behaviors are observed when the trapped atom cloud contains more than 105 atoms. These include the expansion of the cloud as the number is increased and dramatic changes in the distribution of the atoms at higher numbers. We can explain much of the collective behavior using a simple model that includes a 1/r2 force between the atoms arising from the multiple scattering of photons. Finally, we discuss the optical trapping of atoms directly from a low pressure vapor in a small glass cell. We have used these optically trapped atoms to load a magnetostatic trap in the same cell. This provided a high density sample of atoms with a temperature of less than 2 μK.
We study the collective motion of atoms confined in an optical lattice operating inside a high-finesse ring cavity. A simplified theoretical model for the dynamics of the system is developed upon the assumption of adiabaticity of the atomic motion. We show that in a regime where the light shift per photon times the number of atoms exceeds the linewidth of the cavity resonance, the otherwise tiny retroaction of the atoms upon the light field becomes a significant feature of the system. As a result dispersive optical bistability can arise and the lattice positions is determined by the strength of the atom-cavity coupling rather than by the phases of the incoupled light beams. Solving the complete set of classical equations of motion confirms these findings, however, additional nonadiabatic phenomena are predicted, such as, for example, self-induced radial breathing oscillations. We compare these results with experiments involving laser-cooled 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb atoms trapped in an optical lattice inside a ring cavity with a finesse of $1.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$. Our observations are in excellent agreement with our theoretical predictions.