Rabi oscillations between dissipative Bloch bands

Within a two-band tight-binding model driven by DC–AC electric fields, we investigate the dynamics of electrons with Markoffian dephasing. We find that Rabi oscillations between the Bloch bands under the resonant condition may be destroyed by scattering from lattice imperfections. Through a perturbative calculation, we also obtain the effective decay time for the approach to equal Bloch band populations under conditions of small interband coupling and in the long-time limit. The decay rate shows characteristic sharp peaks at values of the parameters that give a signature of Rabi oscillations, and quasienergy spectra display avoided crossings at the same time.     

Bloch oscillations and mean-field effects of Bose-Einstein condensates in 1D optical lattices

We have loaded Bose-Einstein condensates into one-dimensional, off-resonant optical lattices and accelerated them by chirping the frequency difference between the two lattice beams. For small values of the lattice well depth, Bloch oscillations were observed. Reducing the potential depth further, Landau-Zener tunneling out of the lowest lattice band, leading to a breakdown of the oscillations, was also studied and used as a probe for the effective potential resulting from mean-field interactions as predicted by Choi and Niu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2022 (1999)]. The effective potential was measured for various condensate densities and trap geometries, yielding good qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations.     

Resonant delocalization and Bloch oscillations in modulated lattices

We study the propagation of light in Bloch waveguide arrays exhibiting periodic coupling interactions. Intriguing wave packet revival patterns as well as beating Bloch oscillations are demonstrated. A new resonant delocalization phase transition is also predicted.     

Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling in two-dimensional photonic lattices

We report on the first experimental observation of photonic Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling in two-dimensional periodic systems. We study the propagation of an optical beam in a square lattice superimposed on a refractive index ramp. We observe oscillations of the beam inside the first Brilloin zone and tunneling of light from the first to the higher-order bands of the lattice band gap spectrum.     

Tunable Tsallis distributions in dissipative optical lattices

We demonstrated experimentally that the momentum distribution of cold atoms in dissipative optical lattices is a Tsallis distribution. The parameters of the distribution can be continuously varied by changing the parameters of the optical potential. In particular, by changing the depth of the optical lattice, it is possible to change the momentum distribution from Gaussian, at deep potentials, to a power-law tail distribution at shallow optical potentials.     

Unidirectional optical Bloch oscillations in asymmetric waveguide arrays

We present an analytical proof of the existence of unidirectional optical Bloch oscillations in a waveguide array system. It is shown that the presence of nonreciprocity in the system allows for a complete normal-mode dephasing in one of the propagation directions, resulting in a unidirectional breakdown in Bloch oscillations. A model system consisting of an array of transversely magnetized asymmetric Si/SiO2 waveguides with a magneto-optic cover layer is presented. Large index contrasts between film and cover are critical for practical realizations.     

Surface optical Bloch oscillations in semi-infinite waveguide arrays

We predict that surface optical Bloch oscillations can exist in semi-infinite waveguide arrays with a linear index variation, if the array parameters close to the boundary are appropriately perturbed. The perturbation is such that the surface states obtain the Wannier-Stark ladder eigenvalues of the unperturbed infinite array. The number of waveguides, whose parameters need to be controlled, decreases with increasing ratio of index gradient over coupling. The configuration can find applications as a "matched" termination of waveguide arrays to eliminate the distortion of Bloch oscillations due to reflection on the boundaries.     

Spectral and temporal Bloch oscillations in optical fibres

We report a detailed analysis of experimental parameters and fundamental mechanisms contributing to the strong nonlinear scattering of femtosecond and short picosecond laser pulses (50–6000 fs) at focusing in ambient air and protecting gases. The experimental conditions under consideration are typical for a variety of applications: micromachining of metals and dielectrics, high power laser exposure of targets. Such scattering, being the most noticeable manifestation of the complex phenomenon of conical emission in the focusing geometry, puts fundamental limitations to the incident power of precision laser targeting, restricting in this way potential productivity of micromachining in this pulse width range. The phenomena analyzed here are: ionization, the optical Kerr effect, the distortion of spectra via self-phase modulation, and the refractive ability of microplasma, namely the scattering. Characteristics of the last were investigated with respect to the incident wavelength and pulse width, for focusing of Gaussian and flat-top beams of different diameters. The obtained extensive data allowed us to trace the clue trends and relationships of this phenomenon and to find several ways to reduce or even eliminate the scattering in a broad range of the incident energies.     

Anisotropic velocity distributions in 3D dissipative optical lattices

We present a direct measurement of velocity distributions in two dimensions by using an absorption imaging technique in a 3D near resonant optical lattice. The results show a clear difference in the velocity distributions for the different directions. The experimental results are compared with a numerical 3D semi-classical Monte-Carlo simulation. The numerical simulations are in good qualitative agreement with the experimental results. Received 3 September 2002 / Received in final form 25 October 2002 Published online 11 February 2003     

Rayleigh scattering and atomic dynamics in dissipative optical lattices

We investigate Rayleigh scattering in dissipative optical lattices. In particular, following recent proposals [S. Guibal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4709 (1997)]; C. Jurczak, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1727 (1996)]], we study whether the Rayleigh resonance originates from the diffraction on a density grating and is therefore a probe of transport of atoms in optical lattices. It turns out that this is not the case: the Rayleigh line is instead a measure of the cooling rate, while spatial diffusion contributes to the scattering spectrum with a much broader resonance.     

Topological optical Bloch oscillations in a deformed slab waveguide

Spatial Bloch oscillations of light waves of purely topological origin are theoretically shown to exist in weakly deformed slab waveguides. As the optical rays trapped in the deformed waveguide can roll freely, wave diffraction is strongly affected by the topology of the deformed surface, which can be tailored to simulate the effect of a tilted periodic refractive index.     

Stochastic oscillations in dissipative systems

The recent discovery of simple deterministic systems, the behaviour of which is intrinsically stochastic, has led to a new approach to the problem of turbulence. This paper is devoted to the discussion of some physical mechanisms for the appearance of chaos in simple dissipative systems. The authors show that stochastic behaviour is the result of the self-disorganization of such systems. Examples from electronics, chemistry, theory of nonlinear oscillations and waves are given as illustrations to the theoretical findings.     

Optical Bloch oscillations in waveguide arrays

We show that optical Bloch oscillations can emerge in waveguide arrays with linearly varying propagation constants. The existence of localized modes (Wannier-Stark states) with equidistant wave-number spacing (Wannier-Stark ladder) that do not undergo diffraction is analytically proved. The evolution of arbitrary initial excitations is described, and potential applications are suggested.     

Observation of anharmonic Bloch oscillations

We report on the experimental observation of Bloch oscillations of an optical wave packet in a lattice with second-order coupling. To this end, we employ zigzag waveguide arrays, in which the second-order coupling can be precisely tuned.     

Bloch oscillations of path-entangled photons

We show that when photons in N-particle path-entangled |N,0)+|0,N) or N00N states undergo Bloch oscillations, they exhibit a periodic transition between spatially bunched and antibunched states. The period of the bunching-antibunching oscillation is N times faster than the period of the oscillation of the photon density, manifesting the unique coherence properties of N00N states. The transition occurs even when the photons are well separated in space.     

Bloch oscillations in a homogeneous nucleotide chain

It is shown that, at zero temperature, a hole placed in a homogeneous synthetic nucleotide chain with applied electric field demonstrates Bloch oscillations. The oscillations of the hole placed initially on one of the base pairs arise in response to disruption of the initial charge distribution caused by nucleotide vibrations. The finite temperature fluctuations result in degradation of coherent oscillations. The maximum permissible temperature for DNA “Bloch oscillator” occurrence is estimated.     

Magnetic Bloch oscillations in nanowire superlattice rings

The recent growth of semiconductor nanowire superlattices encourages hope that Bloch-like oscillations in such structures formed into rings may soon be observed in the presence of a time-dependent magnetic flux threading the ring. These magnetic Bloch oscillations are a consequence of Faraday's law; the time-dependent flux produces an electromotive force around the ring, thus leading to the Bloch-like oscillations. In the spectroscopic domain, generalized Wannier-Stark states are found that are manifestations of the emf-induced localization of the states.     

Bragg-resonance-induced Rabi oscillations in photonic lattices

We show that propagation of optical beams in periodic lattices induces power oscillations between the Fourier spectrum peaks, with the indices related by the Bragg resonance condition. In the spatial coordinates, this is reflected in the beam position oscillations. A simple resonant theory explains the phenomenon. The effect can be used for controlled generation of the Floquet-Bloch modes in photonic lattices.