Atomic Bloch-Zener oscillations and Stückelberg interferometry in optical lattices

We report on experiments investigating quantum transport and band interferometry of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice with a two-band miniband structure, realized with a Fourier-synthesized optical lattice potential. Bloch-Zener oscillations, the coherent superposition of Bloch oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling between the two bands, are observed. When the relative phase between paths in different bands is varied, an interference signal is observed, demonstrating the coherence of the dynamics in the miniband system. Measured fringe patterns of this Stückelberg interferometer allow us to interferometrically map out the band structure of the optical lattice over the full Brillouin zone.     

Optical percolation in ceramics assisted by porous clusters

We investigated optical transparency in ceramics assisted by disordered porous clusters. The structure and statistical properties of three-dimensional (3D) well porous ceramics is studied. Theoretical model based on the percolation theory and numerical simulations are applied to interpret the observed phase transition from an optically opaque state to a transparent state. The porous ceramic samples were fabricated by the technique of slurry casting. The transmission of optical radiation (optical percolation) over the entire porous samples is observed since the critical concentration of porosity was exceeded. We explain this effect by the rising of the spanning cluster inside of the porous structure that produces a network of porous voids. Our experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical simulations.     

Synchronization and bifurcations of internal and external degrees of freedom of an atom in a standing light wave

The nonlinear dynamical effects of synchronization and bifurcations of Rabi oscillations and oscillations of the center of mass of an atom moving in the field of a standing light wave are theoretically and numerically examined. After completion of a transient process, synchronized oscillations, stable with respect to small noise, are established both upon ballistic motion of the atom and upon its oscillations in the optical potential well. The bifurcations of limit cycle generation with different periods (tripling of the period is most pronounced) and the passage to a chaotic strange attractor through an intermittency are obtained.     

Charged particle motion in the field of a short laser pulse of relativistic intensity

The electron motion in the field of the laser radiation of relativistic intensity was analyzed using the Lorentz force. In the laser pulse field, an initially rest electron does not move along trajectories such as “figure eight”. At relativisitic intensities, the electron oscillations in an optical field are significantly anharmonic.     

Atom-molecule Rabi oscillations in a Mott insulator

We observe large-amplitude Rabi oscillations between an atomic and a molecular state near a Feshbach resonance. The experiment uses 87Rb in an optical lattice and a Feshbach resonance near 414 G. The frequency and amplitude of the oscillations depend on the magnetic field in a way that is well described by a two-level model. The observed density dependence of the oscillation frequency agrees with theoretical expectations. We confirmed that the state produced after a half-cycle contains exactly one molecule at each lattice site. In addition, we show that, for energies in a gap of the lattice band structure, the molecules cannot dissociate.     

Interaction of counterpropagating few cycle light pulses in nonlinear dielectric media and radiation generation at combination frequencies in this process

The regularities of the interaction of counterpropagating optical pulses of only a few oscillations of the light field in nonlinear dielectric media are studied theoretically. The temporal structure of the pulse field, due to its interaction with the counterpropagating pulse, is shown to be varied such that the field zeros are the most shifted in time and its extreme values are not shifted. The center of mass of the spectral density is shifted to the short-wavelength region. The efficiency of these phenomena is determined by the energy of the counterpropagating pulse and does not depend on its duration and spectral composition. The possibility of wave generation at tripled and combination frequencies is demonstrated for the media whose size is less than the interaction region. The efficiency of this generation with respect to the phase mutual modulation is shown to be increasing with a decrease in the number of oscillations in colliding pulses.     

Near-field effect in two-atom system

The self-consistent problem is solved for the interaction of two dipole atoms situated at arbitrary distance from one another with the field of quasiresonant light wave. Atoms are considered to be linear Lorenz oscillators. Polarizing fields inside the system include both Coulomb and retarding parts. The solutions obtained are investigated for the case when atoms have the same polarizabilities and interatomic distance is much less than external light wavelength. Formulas for electric fields inside and outside of small object are obtained. It is shown that longitudinal and transverse optical oscillations are possible to exist inside small two-atom object. Dispersion laws of these oscillations depend upon interatomic distance and upon angle between axis of the system and the direction of propagation of external wave. The field outside the small object in wave zone is linearly polarized with the choice of linear polarization of external field. However, the directions of polarization of these waves are different and depend essentially upon frequency. The amplitude of field outside small object in wave zone is shown to depend essentially on the frequency of external field and interatomic distance. The results obtained are treated as near-field effect in the optics of small objects making it possible to investigate the structure of small objects with optical radiation. Received 26 October 1998 and Received in final form 26 January 2000     

Optical response from dual-frequency hybrid-aligned nematic liquid crystal cells

Dual-frequency hybrid-aligned nematic liquid crystal cells and the influence of the parameters of a control electric field on their optical response are studied. It is found that the harmonic oscillations of the optical transmission in such cells are observed in the interval between low frequency-to-high frequency voltage switchings unlike in conventional twisted nematic cells. A V-shaped bistable optical response is obtained by successively applying sinusoidal electric fields with frequencies of 1 and 30 kHz to a twisted nematic cell. For a liquid crystal layer 8 ??m thick and an applied voltage of 50 V, the response time is 10 ms. In a hybrid-aligned twisted-nematic cell with a large initial tilt angle of the director (about 70°), the V-shaped optical response is observed when the inclined homeotropic state is switched to the twisted state by applying a 30-kHz field. The initial structure of the layer recovers as a result of natural elastic relaxation, and the response time increases roughly fourfold.     

Transient Dynamics of Super Bloch Oscillations of a 1D Holstein Polaron under the Influence of an External AC Electric Field

Theoretical formalism for DC‐field polaron dynamics is extended to the dynamics of a 1D Holstein polaron in an external AC electric field using multiple Davydov trial states. Effects of carrier–phonon coupling on detuned and resonant scenarios are investigated for both phase and nonzero phase. For slightly off‐resonant or detuned cases, a beat between the usual Bloch oscillations and an AC driving force results in super Bloch oscillations, that is, rescaled Bloch oscillations in both the spatial and the temporal dimension. Super Bloch oscillations are damped by carrier–phonon coupling. For resonant cases, if the carrier is created on two nearest‐neighboring sites, the carrier wave packet spreads with small‐amplitude oscillations. Adding carrier–phonon coupling localizes the carrier wave packet. If an initial broad Gaussian wave packet is adopted, the centroid of the carrier wave packet moves with a certain velocity and with its shape unchanged. Adding carrier–phonon coupling broadens the carrier wave packet and slows down the carrier movement. Our findings may help provide guiding principles on how to manipulate the dynamics of the super Bloch oscillations of carriers in semiconductor superlattice and optical lattices by modifying DC and AC field strengths, AC phases, and detuning parameters.     

Methods for increasing the efficiency of nonlinear optical interactions in nanostructured semiconductors

Methods for increasing the efficiency of the optical second-and third-harmonic generation in gallium phosphide and silicon nanostructures formed by electrochemical etching of crystalline semiconductors are discussed. The efficiency of nonlinear optical interactions can be increased by using phase matching in anisotropic nanostructured semiconductors that exhibit form birefringence or by increasing the local field, as in scattering in macroporous semiconductors. The efficiencies of third-harmonic generation in porous silicon and of second-harmonic generation in porous gallium phosphide are found to increase by more than an order of magnitude.     

Diverging rabi oscillations in subwavelength photonic lattices

We show that Rabi oscillations between Bloch modes of an optical waveguide array with subwavelength periodicity diverge, both in frequency and in field amplitude, when the optical wavelength approaches a mathematical exceptional point at which the Bloch mode becomes self-orthogonal.     

Confined Franz–Keldysh effect in ZnO quantum dots

Within the framework of the effective mass approximation, the confined Franz–Keldysh effect is investigated theoretically in a cylindrical ZnO quantum dot (QD). Numerical results show that the application of an electric field can decrease the strength and the threshold energy of the optical absorption coefficient in ZnO QD. There are additional oscillations in the absorption above the effective band gap, which are due to the Franz–Keldysh effect which occurs in the presence of the electric field. Our results also show that the electric field has a more obviously influence on the optical absorption in cylindrical ZnO QD with larger dot height.     

Characteristic features of generation of few-cycle pulses in infrared and terahertz spectral ranges upon interaction of two femtosecond pulses of different frequencies in air

The results of a theoretical analysis of the generation of broadband radiation in the infrared and terahertz spectral ranges upon the excitation of plasma in air by two femtosecond pulses at the fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies of a Ti-sapphire laser are presented. It is found that the appearance of long-wavelength radiation in a strong field of pulses of different frequencies can be described in terms of strongly anharmonic oscillations of optical electrons, whereby electrons are pulled far away from their atoms; these oscillations are accompanied by cascade transitions of electrons from their ground state to a bound excited state, followed by a transition to the continuum. It is shown that the generated infrared and terahertz radiation appears in the form of pulses containing a few oscillations of the light field. The efficiency of terahertz generation varies periodically with an increase in the interaction length of the femtosecond pulses of different frequencies.     

Tunnel injection into GaAs/AlGaAs long period superlattices

Electron injection through a tunnel barrier into a long period GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice is investigated. Seven negative differential resistance (NDR) regions are observed, resulting from resonant tunneling into the first well of the superlattice. Their positions can be quantitatively accounted for by considering the distribution of the electric field in the depletion region and the tunnel barrier. Upon application of a magnetic field parallel to the layers, the NDR's are shifted and weakened, which can be explained in terms of conservation of energy and canonical momentum. Furthermore, optical phonon generated conductance oscillations are observed although the depletion region is punctuated by the superlattice structure.     

平面偏振光激励的多孔硅的光致发光

研究了以掠入射的平面偏振光激励的多孔硅的光致发光。实验结果显示，光的入射角对多孔硅的发光行为影响不大，然而，以ｚ方向偏振光激励的发光强度明显高于以ｘ方向偏振光激励的发光强度。激励光电场相对于样品表面的不同取向引起光致发光的差异，这反映多孔硅的光学性质是各向异性的，也排除了纯粹的硅量子点的集合作为多孔结构的可能性。     

Recombination waves in CdS induced by optical quenching

Low-frequency current oscillations induced by optical quenching were observed in highly photosensitive CdS crystals. No evidence of a negative differential resistivity was found. The current oscillations were observed at room temperature at electric field strengths of 100–800 V/cm. As shown by probe measurements, the instabilities resulted from a bulk phenomenon. The oscillations are related to the excitation of recombination waves, predicted by Konstantinov and Perel.     

多孔氧化铝薄膜的制备和光学特性研究

采用阳极氧化法制备了二维有序纳米孔氧化铝膜.研究了工艺参数对多孔薄膜有序性、孔径、膜厚度等的影响，测量了多孔氧化铝有序膜的光透过、光吸收和光发射等光学特性.结果表明，在波长360 nm附近多孔氧化铝有序膜的光透过谱线和光吸收谱线发生突变，波长大于360 nm时，光透过增强；波长小于360 nm时，光吸收增强.多孔氧化铝有序膜的光致发光强度和峰位与激发光波长有关，光致发光谱范围在340~600 nm.     

Doppler-Rabi oscillations of a moving atom due to the roentgen interaction in a cavity

The dynamics of energy exchange between an atom moving in a high-Q cavity and the cavity field is analyzed by taking into account the Roentgen interaction. A two-level atom coupled to a Fock or coherent state of an optical or microwave cavity is considered. The mean cavity photon number required for high-frequency Doppler-Rabi oscillations to occur is relatively high for both Fock-and coherent-state cavity fields and increases with the atomic transition frequency. Conditions are found when the Roentgen interaction plays a key role in the Doppler-Rabi oscillations and must be taken into account, in addition to the conventional electric field-dipole interaction.     

Surface wave photonic device based on porous silicon multilayers

Porous silicon is widely studied in the field of photonics due to its interesting optical properties. In this work, we present theoretical and first experimental studies of a new kind of porous silicon photonic device based on optical surface wave. A theoretical analysis of the device is presented using plane-wave approximation. The porous silicon multilayered structures are realized using electrochemical etching of p⁺-type silicon. Morphological and optical characterizations of the realized structures are reported.