Splitting of atomic beams by light for creation of high-resolution spatial structures in optical nanolithography

Diffraction of atomic wave packets from a standing laser wave with a Gaussian profile is studied theoretically and numerically in pursuing the aim of creating high-resolution spatial structures in optical nanolithography. To this end, we propose to use nonadiabatic transitions between two optical potentials which take place when square of the value of detuning off the resonance is approximately equal to the Doppler shift. In this case, atomic wave packets experience splitting at nodes of the standing wave, which allows creating atomic structures on a substrate with a period substantially smaller than the standard nanofabrication limit equal to half the wavelength of light. We propose a scheme of the experiment for the observation of nonadiabatic transitions and splitting of the wave of matter caused by them. A number of computer simulations with parameters corresponding to real atoms have been performed, which exhibit this effect in both momentum and coordinate spaces.     

Raman scattering resonances in separated fields

The effects in separated standing-wave fields that are resonant to adjacent Doppler-broadened transitions of many-level atoms are studied. It is shown that due to coherent transfer, at large distances, of polarization on a forbidden transition between the initial and final metastable levels of atoms in a gas, light emission arises at combination frequencies. It is also shown that a resonance with the width reciprocal to the time of flight between separated fields is available in the Raman scattering and absorption line shapes.     

Influence of the hyperfine structure of the atomic states on the collective effects in the Rb<Subscript>2</Subscript> quasi-molecule

A consistent quantum approach is used to study the influence of intraatomic spin–orbit and hyperfine interactions on the character of a resonance dipole–dipole interatomic interaction and, hence, collective effects. For this purpose, the collective spontaneous decay of excited states and the spectral dependence of the total scattering cross section of a monochromatic light wave are analyzed in the system consisting of two rubidium-87 atoms. The modification of the radiation properties and the interaction of the atoms with external radiation are studied as functions of the interatomic distance. The presence of a complex structure of the sublevels of both the ground and excited states is shown to modify the collective effects substantially as compared to the case when this structure is absent.     

Coherent effects under suppressed spontaneous emission

An ensemble of resonance atoms is considered, which are doped into a medium with well developed polariton effect, when in the spectrum of polariton states there is a band gap. If an atom with a resonance frequency inside the polariton gap is placed into the medium, the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed. However, a system of resonance atoms inside the polariton gap can radiate when their coherent interaction is sufficiently strong. Thus the suppression of spontaneous emission for a single atom can be overcome by a collective of atoms radiating coherently. Conditions when such collective effects can appear and their dynamics are analysed. Received 7 June 2000     

Radiative decay of Wannier excitons in thin crystal films

The radiative decay of the Wannier exciton in thin crystal films is studied by the method of Heitler and Ma in the resonance approximation. It is shown that, while the broken crystal symmetry opens up the possibility of radiative decay, the correlation brought about by the interaction of the lattice atoms with a common radiation field leads to a superradiative enhancement of the decay rate. However, when it is compared with the corresponding case of a Frenkel exciton, the decay rate of the Wannier exciton is reduced due to the averaging of the dipole transition matrix element over the various possible distances between the widely separated electron and hole.     

Models of the Dynamics of Spatially Separated Broadband Electromagnetic Fields Interacting with Resonant Atoms

The Markov model of spontaneous emission of an atom localized in a spatial region with a broadband electromagnetic field with zero photon density is considered in the conditions of coupling of the electromagnetic field with the broadband field of a neighboring space. The evolution operator of the system and the kinetic equation for the atom are obtained. It is shown that the field coupling constant affects the rate of spontaneous emission of the atom, but is not manifested in the atomic frequency shift. The analytic expression for the radiative decay constant for the atom is found to be analogous in a certain sense to the expression for the decay constant for a singly excited localized ensemble of identical atoms in the conditions when the effect of stabilization of its excited state by the Stark interaction with the vacuum broadband electromagnetic field is manifested. The model is formulated based on quantum stochastic differential equations of the non- Wiener type and the generalized algebra of the Ito differential of quantum random processes.     

Spatial quantum beats in vibrational resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering at dissociating states in oxygen

Resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra excited at the 1σ(g) → 3σ(u) resonance in gas-phase O2 show excitations due to the nuclear degrees of freedom with up to 35 well-resolved discrete vibronic states and a continuum due to the kinetic energy distribution of the separated atoms. The RIXS profile demonstrates spatial quantum beats caused by two interfering wave packets with different momenta as the atoms separate. Thomson scattering strongly affects both the spectral profile and the scattering anisotropy.     

Influence of interference effects of spontaneous emission on the behavior and spectra of resonance fluorescence of a three-level atom in a strong wave field

An investigation is made of the influence of quantum interference processes accompanying radiative relaxation of excited states on the population dynamics, total intensity, and spectra of the resonance fluorescence of three-level V-type atoms. Analytic expressions are obtained for the total intensity and spectra of the resonance fluorescence taking into account the off-diagonal nature of the radiative relaxation operator. It is shown that quantum interference process can substantially alter the total spontaneous emission intensity of the atoms and the population dynamics of the atomic levels, as well as the resonance fluorescence spectra.     

The influence of quantum interference effects on the resonance fluorescence spectra of a degenerate three-level atom

The resonance fluorescence spectra of a degenerate three-level atom of the V-type in the field of an intense monochromatic wave with an arbitrary polarization composition are investigated. Analytical expressions are derived for the resonance fluorescence spectra, and the angular distribution of spontaneous fluorescence of atoms is analyzed for the D-line emitted by vapors of alkali atoms. It is shown that the number of lines in the spectrum may decrease in the case of the linear polarization of spontaneous radiation. The radiation relaxation operator is obtained for the D-line of alkali metals in the case when an atom is near the metal surface. Interference effects for such systems are analyzed.     

On the dominant role of two-photon relaxation in photonic crystals in external fields

It is shown that resonant interaction of a coherent wave with impurity atoms leads to filling of levels of an impurity atom that lie in the gap in the photon density of states and do not belong to resonant transitions, while the interaction of impurity atoms with a nonresonant coherent wave results in effective deactivation of the indicated levels. The main mechanism determining the pumping and decay of an impurity level in a gap are two-photon radiative relaxation processes previously investigated by the present author (Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 102, 1126 (1992) [Sov. Phys. JETP 75, 611 (1992)]). Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 7, 434–438 (10 October 1999)     

Stimulated resonance scattering of light waves in laser crystals with a population inversion

A new type of stimulated scattering of light is discovered in a Nd:YAG laser crystal with a population inversion. The scattering occurs for light at the resonance frequency of the laser transition, with a small anti-Stokes shift. It is shown that the effect is due to the appearance of a wave of population of the metastable level and the associated traveling index grating in a laser medium with different polarizability of the excited and unexcited atoms. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 1, 13–18 (10 January 1996)     

Diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in the field of a multifrequency standing light wave

The diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level atom in a multifrequency optical radiation field is studied. A new type of coherent beam splitter for atoms that employs the scattering of a wave packet in the field of four standing light waves with different spatial shifts is proposed on this basis. It is shown that this interaction scheme makes it possible to obtain large splittings (>100ℏk) of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in momentum space into only two coherent components. In addition, the atoms in these coherent components are in long-lived atomic states, which substantially simplifies the experimental implementation of such a splitter. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 6, 386–391 (25 September 1997)     

Atom-optics holograms

The temporal evolution of atomic wave packets interacting with object and reference electromagnetic waves is investigated, and an analytical solution for the off-resonant density matrix is presented. It is shown that, under certain physical conditions, the diffraction of an ultracold atomic beam by an inhomogeneous laser field can be interpreted as if the beam passes through a three-dimensional hologram. We show that high diffraction efficiencies can be realized if one restricts the extent of the atomic hologram in the time domain rather than in space. The hologram, thus, can work in a pulsed regime pumping atoms from the beam or from the initial wave packet into the reconstructed matter wave. The suggested regime is well compatible with the Raman cooling methods and the recent realization of an atom laser, which are capable of repeatedly reproducing coherent, or almost coherent, atomic wave packets necessary for the actual implementation of the reading beam. It is found that the diffraction efficiency of such a hologram may reach 100% and is determined by the duration of laser pulses. On this basis, a new method for the reconstruction of the object image with matter waves is offered. The latter may have useful practical applications, ranging from atom lithography, to the manufacturing of microstructures, and quantum microfabrication.     

Spectroscopic manifestations of saturation of optical transitions by spontaneous emission

Stimulated absorption of spontaneous emission of a gas-discharge plasma can cause a significant increase in the population of the emitting states, compared to their population determined by inelastic collisions and spontaneous decay from upper levels. By imposing a magnetic field, this self-saturation is reduced and its contribution to the level population can be identified. The magnetic-field-dependent changes in Doppler profiles due to radiative transitions caused by saturating spontaneous emission are analyzed in the case of absorption of a weak monochromatic wave.     

Polarization bremsstrahlung in α decay

A mechanism of formation of electromagnetic radiation that accompanies α decay and is associated with the emission of photons by electrons of atomic shells due to the scattering of α particles by these atoms (polarization bremsstrahlung) is proposed. It is shown that, when the photon energy is no higher than the energy of K electrons of an atom, polarization bremsstrahlung makes a significant contribution to the bremsstrahlung in α decay.     

Resonant scattering of three-level Rydberg atoms in a microwave field

We examine the theory of potential scattering of Rydberg atoms in a microwave field. The model of a three-level atom is employed to calculate the radiative force emerging in the resonant coherent interaction with the microwave field for the case of a two-photon resonance and high intensities, using the method of quasienergies of the system consisting of the atom and the field. We determine the probabilities of Landau-Zener transitions in the spatial regions where under two-photon resonance conditions the quasienergies of the atoms approach one another by a small quantity. We also study the dynamics of the variation of the spatial profile of a beam of Rydberg atoms caused by resonant scattering. Finally, we give the results of the first experimental observation of the variation of the transverse beam profile when Rydberg atoms pass through a nonuniform microwave field formed in a rectangular waveguide and in resonance with the two-photon 36P–37P transition. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 796–815 (March 1997)     

Elastic scattering loss of atoms from colliding bose-einstein condensate wave packets

Bragg diffraction of atoms by light waves can create high momentum components in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Collisions between atoms from two distinct momentum wave packets cause elastic scattering that can remove a significant fraction of atoms from the wave packets and cause the formation of a spherical shell of scattered atoms. We develop a slowly varying envelope technique that includes the effects of this loss on the condensate dynamics described by the Gross-Pitaevski equation. Three-dimensional numerical calculations are presented for two experimental situations: passage of a moving daughter condensate through a nonmoving parent condensate, and four-wave mixing of matter waves.     

Metastable (2S) helium atom scattering from NiO(100) and Cu(100) surfaces

The scattering of metastable 2³S He atoms (He*) from cleaved NiO(100) as well as from clean and CO-covered Cu(100) surfaces has been studied. For these varied surfaces, which were characterized in situ by ground state He atom scattering, only broad He* angular distributions without any diffraction peaks were observed. For metastable He atoms scattered from the clean Cu(100) surface a total survival probability of 1×10⁻⁶ was determined. For NiO(100) and the CO-covered Cu(100) surface values of about 1×10⁻⁵ were obtained. Time-of-flight spectra of the surviving He* atoms revealed a substantial energetic broadening which increases with the substrate temperature. This behaviour indicates a large well depth for the He*–surface interaction potential and is discussed in terms of an enhanced multiphonon excitation and/or trapping probability upon the scattering.     

Der Beugungseffekt bei der elastischen Streuung von Ionenstrahlen an Atomen

For the elastic scattering of ion beams at atoms the diffraction of the matter wave at the atom can be observed in the region of small scattering angles and high energies. The diffraction causes undulations in the differential scattering cross section. In this paper a general solution of the diffraction effect is given. The solution holds for the Yukawa type screened Coulomb potential which is well suited for the small angle scattering of-ions at atoms and which contains two parameters. The computations have been made using the partial wave method and the Jeffreys-Born-approximation for the scattering phase shifts. The solution is presented in a form in which the amplitudes and characteristic constants of the first four undulation maxima and minima are given in dependence of a product which contains one of the potential parameters. The characteristic constants are correlated in a characteristic equation with the second potential parameter and the positions of the diffraction extrema. The conditions for the appearance of the diffraction effect are discussed.