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arXiv:physics/0601036 · Physical Review A

Coherent manipulation of atoms by copropagating laser beams

Yuri B. Ovchinnikov

Published Mar 2, 2006• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Optical dipole traps and fractional Talbot optical lattices based on the interference between multiple copropagating laser beams are proposed. The variation of relative amplitudes and phases of the interfering light beams of these traps makes it possible to manipulate the spatial position of trapped atoms. Examples of spatial translation and splitting of atoms between a set of the interference traps are considered. The prospect of constructing all-light atom chips based on the proposed technique is presented.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.73.033404

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Optical dipole traps and fractional Talbot optical lattices based on the interference between multiple copropagating laser beams are proposed. The variation of relative amplitudes and phases of the interfering light beams of these traps makes it possible to manipulate the spatial position of trapped atoms. Examples of spatial translation and splitting of atoms between a set of the interference traps are considered. The prospect of constructing all-light atom chips based on the proposed technique is presented.
Controlling atoms by light is important for investigating the atom-atom entanglement and atom-atom dipole interaction.It is also a key issue for quantum information.Based on our present experimental system,we propose a scheme of generating adjustable multiple optical dipole traps by using three strongly focused beams,which implies controllable optical lattice for atom manipulation.We discuss in detail the influence of the incident angle and the phase difference on the depth and position of the traps and demonstrate that the manipulation of individual atom and control of trap-trap distance are realizable.It is of great importance in studying interaction between BECs in optical lattices,atom interference and atomic dipole-dipole interaction.
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser beam is retroreflected using the atom chip surface as a high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate traps. We transfer thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling into the two-dimensional regime. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.
New levels of control over the atomic motion have been attained through the development of the atom laser. The unique properties of these coherent atomic sources open up a wide range of new possibilities in the fields of atom optics and precision measurement. In this article we have discussed the high contrast interference pattern obtained from an atom laser with two output modes of different energies. It should be possible to create a highly complex interference pattern in the output beam of an atom laser by applying a correspondingly tailored radio wave field for output coupling. A novel atom optical manipulation method allowed us to reflect, recapture and focus an atom laser beam. Due to its simplicity and precision the technique is ideally suited for creating an interferometer for the atom laser beam. It seems feasible to split the atom laser beam into two components and recombine it after delaying one of the two components. The resulting interference pattern would reveal the coherence properties of the atom laser beam.
Single neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice form an ideal system for the investigation of coherent matter wave phenomena in a well controlled way. For this it is necessary to coherently manipulate and detect the system with a spatial resolution better than the periodicity of the optical lattice (λ/2 = 433 nm). We have realized such a system by trapping single laser cooled Caesium atoms in a spin dependent optical lattice. High resolution fluorescence imaging yields precise detection of atomic positions even down to nearest neighbors in the lattice [1].
Optical lattices formed by interfering laser beams are widely used to trap and manipulate atoms for quantum simulation, metrology, and computation. To stabilize optical lattices in experiments, it is usually challenging to implement delicate phase-locking systems with complicated optics and electronics to reduce the relative phase fluctuation of multiple laser beams. Here, we report a phase-locking-free scheme to implement an optical lattice by passing a single laser beam through a prism with n-fold symmetric facets and large apex angles. The scheme ensures a stable optical lattice since the interference occurs among different deflected parts of a single laser beam. Various lattice configurations, including a triangular lattice and a quasi-crystalline lattice with tenfold symmetry, are demonstrated. In both cases, stability measurements show a change of lattice constant and a drift of lattice position of less than 1.14% and 1.61% relative to the lattice constant.