Two-dimensional atom trapping in field-induced adiabatic potentials

We show how to create a novel two-dimensional trap for ultracold atoms from a conventional magnetic trap. We achieve this by utilizing rf-induced adiabatic potentials to enhance the trapping potential in one direction. We demonstrate the loading process and discuss the experimental conditions under which it might be possible to prepare a 2D Bose condensate. A scheme for the preparation of coherent matter-wave bubbles is also discussed.     

Three level atom optics in dipole traps and waveguides

An analogy is explored between a setup of three atomic traps coupled via tunneling and an internal atomic three-level system interacting with two laser fields. Within this scenario we describe a STIRAP like process which allows to move an atom between the ground states of two trapping potentials and analyze its robustness. This analogy is extended to other robust and coherent transport schemes and to systems of more than a single atom. Finally it is applied to manipulate external degrees of freedom of atomic wave packets propagating in waveguides.     

Photonic nanojets as three-dimensional optical atom traps: A theoretical study

We show that an efficient three-dimensional optical atom trap can be achieved by light scattered off a dielectric microsphere. Namely, under suitable conditions, a plane wave incident on a polymer sphere produces a focal point in the forward scattering direction known as photonic nanojet. The photonic nanojet is formed at a distance of a few micrometers away from the surface of the sphere wherein the Casimir–Polder interaction felt by an atom is negligible compared to the optical and gravitational potentials. When many polymer spheres are brought together so as to form a linear chain, a one-dimensional periodic optical lattice filled with cold atoms is possible since interference between the incident and scattered beams is minimal when the spheres are not too close.     

Continuous transfer and laser guiding between two cold atom traps

We have demonstrated and modeled a simple and efficient method to transfer atoms from a first Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) to a second one. Two independent setups, with cesium and rubidium atoms respectively, have shown that a high power and slightly diverging laser beam optimizes the transfer between the two traps when its frequency is red-detuned from the atomic transition. This pushing laser extracts a continuous beam of slow and cold atoms out of the first MOT and also provides a guiding to the second one through the dipolar force. In order to optimize the transfer efficiency, the dependence of the atomic flux on the pushing laser parameters (power, detuning, divergence and waist) is investigated. The atomic flux is found to be proportional to the first MOT loading rate. Experimentally, the transfer efficiency reaches 70%, corresponding to a transfer rate up to 2.7×10⁸ atoms/s with a final velocity of 5.5 m/s. We present a simple analysis of the atomic motion inside the pushing–guiding laser, in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Dynamics of matter-wave solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates with time-dependent scattering length and complex potentials

We investigate the dynamics of matter-wave solitons in the one-dimensional (1-D)Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation describing Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) withtime-dependent scattering length in varying trapping potentials with feeding/loss term. Byperforming a modified lens-type transformation, we reduce the GP equation into a classicalnonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with distributed coefficients and find its integrablecondition. Under the integrable condition, we apply the generalized Jacobian ellipticfunction method (GJEFM) and present exact analytical solutions which describe thepropagation of a bright and dark solitons in BECs. Their stability is examined usinganalytic method. The obtained exact solutions show that the amplitude of bright and darksolitons depends on the scattering length, while their motion and the total number of BECatoms depend on the external trapping potential. Our results also shown that the loss ofatoms can dominate the aggregation of atoms by the attractive interaction, and thus thepeak density can decrease in time despite that the strength of the attractive interactionis increased.     

Drastic deceleration of light pulses in atom traps: A semiclassical theory

The solution to the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing interaction of two light pulses with a gas of magnetically trapped cold atoms is used to establish fair quantitative agreement between theory and experimental results reported in [5]. The spacetime dependence of the probe-and coupling-pulse fields and nonlinear dynamics of atoms are analyzed.     

Hidden features of the soliton adaptation law to external potentials: Optical and matter-wave 3D nonautonomous soliton bullets

We show that the law of the soliton adaptation to varying-in-time external potentials indicates conclusively the way for solitonlike bullets generation in three-dimensional nonautonomous nonlinear and dispersive systems. It turns out that the generation of matter-wave soliton bullets can be realized if periodic variations of non-linearity and confining sign-reversal varying-in-time harmonic oscillator potential are opposite in phases so that peaks of nonlinearity inside the atomic cloud coincide in time with repulsive character of trapping potential during reversal periodic transformations from cigar-shaped to ball-shaped trapping structures. In nonlinear optical applications, periodic graded-index nonlinear structures with alternating waveguiding and antiwaveguiding segments can be used to simulate complicated processes of matter-wave soliton bullets generation.     

Arrays of microscopic magnetic traps for cold atoms and their applications in atom optics

A single microscopic magnetic trap for neutral atoms using planar current-carrying wires was proposed and studied theoretically by Weinstein et al.In this paper,we propose three structures of composite current-carrying wires to provide 1D,2D and 3D arrays of microscopic magnetic traps for cold alkali atoms.The spatial distributions of magnetic fields generated by these structures are calculated and the field gradient and curvature in each single microtrap are analysed.Our study shows that arrays of microscopic magnetic traps can be used to provide 1D,2D or 3D atomic magnetic lattices,and even to realize 1D,2D and 3D arrays of magneto-optical traps,and so on.     

Fluorescence spectra of some cross-conjugate ketones: Experiment and calculations based on the model of two-well adiabatic potentials

Fluorescent properties of some cross-conjugate ketones were studied at 4.2, 77, and 300 K. Anomalies were observed in the fluorescence and fluorescence-excitation spectra of one of the studied compounds; these anomalies consisted in a pronounced upset of mirror symmetry of the spectra and a large Stokes shift. The experimental spectra and the spectra calculated theoretically using the theory of two-well adiabatic potentials were subjected to a comparative analysis.     

Preparation of Fock states and quantum entanglement via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage using a four-level atom

We study the behaviour of an atom-cavity system exposed to a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) process in a four-level system, with a coupling scheme which generate two degenerate dark states. We find that the non-adiabatic interaction of the two dark states guarantees that the cavity Fock states can always be generated by both intuitively and counterintuitively ordered pulses. Furthermore, we propose a method to entangle two atoms. Depending on the ordering of the pulses two orthogonal entangled states can be prepared. Since these entangled states do not have component of the excited states included, the technique is robust against the detrimental consequences of spontaneous emission. Received 20 March 2001     

Matter wave beam splitters in gravito-inertial and trapping potentials: generalized ttt scheme for atom interferometry

I present a strong field theory of matter wave splitting in the presence of various gravitational, inertial and trapping potentials. The effect of these potentials on both the resonance condition (between the splitting potential and considered effective two-level systems) and the atomic Borrmann effect is investigated in detail. Then I express this triple interaction “matter – splitting potential – gravito-inertial and trapping potentials” as an equivalent instantaneous interaction (generalized ttt scheme) which turns out to be a very efficient tool for the modeling of atom interferometers. Finally, I detail this beam splitter modeling for the particular case of a uniform and constant acceleration, and I bring to light some non-trivial corrections to the usual atom gravimeters phase shift expression. PACS 03.75.-b; 32.80.-t; 42.50.-p     

Collisional and radiative processes in adiabatic deceleration, deflection, and off-axis trapping of a Rydberg atom beam

A supersonic beam of Rydberg hydrogen atoms has been adiabatically deflected by 90°, decelerated to zero velocity in less than 25 μs, and loaded into an electric trap. The deflection has allowed the suppression of collisions with atoms in the trailing part of the gas pulse. The processes leading to trap losses, i.e., fluorescence to the ground state, and transitions and ionization induced by blackbody radiation have been monitored over several milliseconds and quantitatively analyzed.     

Measurements of total absolute collision cross section of ultracold Rb atom using magneto-optic and pure magnetic traps

The implementation of a technique to measure total collision cross sections using laser-cooled rubidium atoms along with the introduction of room-temperature background gases, confined in both magnetooptic and magnetic traps, is proposed. Atom loss from the trap and total collision cross section can be inferred from the knowledge of the density of background gases. The measured cross sections from the magneto-optic and magnetic traps are represented, compared, and found to be significantly different. The measurements using this technique have a very small error in the range of approximately 2%-7%.     

Improvement of modified analytic embedded atom method potentials for noble metals and Cu

The modified analytic embedded atom model (EAM) potentials considering farther neighbor atoms are improved for the noble metals (Ag, Au, Pt, Pd, Rh) and Cu. We not only adopt an end processing function and an enhanced smooth continuous condition for the pair potential, but also adjust the model parameters of multi-body potential by fitting a cohesive energy, a mono-vacancy formation energy, the Rose equation curve for the cohesive energy as a function of lattice parameter, a structure energy difference, elastic parameters and an equilibrium condition of crystal. The calculation results of structure energy differences misfit the experiment data for the noble metals and Cu in the unimproved EAM, because anyone of these differences have not been considered in the calculation of its model parameters. After the modification, the model showed better simulation results for the noble metals and Cu.     

Bright matter-wave soliton collisions in a harmonic trap: regular and chaotic dynamics

Collisions between bright solitary waves in the 1D Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic potential, which models a trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, are investigated theoretically. A particle analogy for the solitary waves is formulated and shown to be integrable for a two-particle system. The extension to three particles is shown to support chaotic regimes. Good agreement is found between the particle model and simulations of the full wave dynamics, suggesting that the dynamics can be described in terms of solitons both in regular and chaotic regimes, presenting a paradigm for chaos in wave mechanics.     

Long range adiabatic potentials and scattering lengths for the EF,e and h states of the hydrogen molecule

Accurate EF ¹Σ _g , e ³Σ _u and h ³Σ _g state adiabatic potentials are computed for internuclear distances up to 44 atomic units. All the energies are more accurate by a fraction of a wave number from existing results. Scattering lengths for collisions of 1S and 2S hydrogen atoms are evaluated. These differ significantly from earlier results. This is because for some states the scattering length is very sensitive to even small changes in the potential.     

A neutral atom and a wire: towards mesoscopic atom optics

A large variety of trapping and guiding potentials can be designed by bringing cold atoms close to charged or current-carrying material objects. Using a current-carrying wire we demonstrate how to build guides and traps for neutral atoms and using a charged wire we study a 1/r ² singularity. The simplicity and versatility of the principles demonstrated in our experiments will allow for miniaturization and integration of atom optical elements into matter-wave quantum circuits. Received: 13 December 1998 / Revised version: 8 July 1999 / Published online: 8 September 1999     

Compensated adiabatic inversion pulses: broadband INEPT and HSQC

When adiabatic fast passage is used to flip nuclear spins, sites with different chemical shifts are inverted at different times, causing refocusing errors. By mapping the phase evolution diagrams, we show that these effects can be accurately compensated with matched pairs of adiabatic pulses, either opposed or in the same sense, depending on the application. Applied to well-known heteronuclear polarization transfer experiments such as INEPT and HSQC, the requisite evolution of J-vectors is achieved irrespective of chemical shift or the duration of the adiabatic sweeps. By replacing conventional 180 degrees pulses, these new adiabatic sequences offer an order of magnitude improvement in effective bandwidth for the X-spins. Alternatively the experiments can be carried out with significantly reduced radiofrequency power. One- and two-dimensional spectra of (13)C in 13-cis-retinal at 600MHz have been used to demonstrate these advantages.