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arXiv:quant-ph/0404138 · Physical Review A

Diffraction by circular optical lattices

H. L. Haroutyunyan, Gerard Nienhuis

Published Dec 14, 2004• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

When a single two-level atom interacts with a pair of Laguerre-Gaussian beams with opposite helicity, this leads to an efficient exchange of angular momentum between the light field and the center-of-mass motion of the atom. When the radial motion is trapped by an additional potential, the wave function of a single localized atom can be split into components that rotate in opposite direction. This suggests a scheme for atom interferometry without mirror pulses.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.70.063408

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When a single two-level atom interacts with a pair of Laguerre-Gaussian beams with opposite helicity, this leads to an efficient exchange of angular momentum between the light field and the center-of-mass motion of the atom. When the radial motion is trapped by an additional potential, the wave function of a single localized atom can be split into components that rotate in opposite direction. This suggests a scheme for atom interferometry without mirror pulses.
The exchange of orbital angular momentum between a Laguerre-Gaussian beam of light and the center-of-mass motion of an atom or molecule is well known. We show that the orbital angular momentum of light can also be transferred to the internal electronic or rotational motion of an atom or a molecule provided the internal and center-of-mass motions are coupled. However, this transfer does not happen directly to the internal motion, but via center-of-mass motion. If atoms or molecules are cooled down to the recoil limit, then an exchange of angular momentum between the quantized center-of-mass motion and the internal motion is possible during the interaction of cold atoms or molecules with the Laguerre-Gaussian beam. The orientation of the exchanged angular momentum is determined by the sign of the winding number of the Laguerre-Gaussian beam. We present selective results of numerical calculations for the quadrupole transition rates in the interaction of the Laguerre-Gaussian beam with an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate to illustrate the underlying mechanism of light orbital angular momentum transfer. We discuss how the alignment of diatomic molecules will facilitate exploration of the effects of light orbital angular momentum on the electronic motion of molecules.
We derive the interaction Hamiltonian between a diatomic molecule and a Laguerre-Gaussian beam under the assumption of a small spread of the center of mass wave function of the molecule in comparison with the beam waist. Considering the dynamical variables of the center of mass, vibrational, rotational, and electronic motion, we show that, within the electronic dipole approximation, the orbital angular momentum of the field couples with the rotational and electronic motion. The changes in the transition probabilities and selection rules induced by the field orbital angular momentum and the applicability of the derived interaction mechanisms for polyatomic molecules are discussed.