arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P. R. Berman.
We propose a laser field configuration which acts as a quasiperiodic atom optical diffraction grating. Analytical and computational results for the atomic center-of-mass wavefunction after the grating reveal a quasiperiodic density pattern, a semiclassical focusing effect, and a quasiperiodic self-imaging of the atomic wavefunction analogous to a Talbot effect.
A theory of matter wave interference is developed in which resonant optical fields interact with two-level atoms. When recoil effects are included, spatial modulation of the atomic density can occur for times that are greater than or comparable with the inverse recoil frequency. In this regime, the atoms exhibit matter-wave interference. Two specific atom field geometries are considered. In the first, atoms characterized by a homogeneous velocity distribution are subjected to a single radiation pulse. The pulse excites the atoms which then decay back to the lower state. The spatial modulation of the total atomic density is calculated as a function of $t$, where $t$ is the time following the pulse. In contrast to the normal Talbot effect, the spatially modulated density is not a periodic function of $ t,$ owing to spontaneous emission; however, after a sufficiently long time, the contribution from spontaneous processes no longer plays a role and the Talbot periodicity is restored. In the second atom-field geometry, there are two pulses separated by an interval $T$. The atomic velocity distribution in this case is assumed to be inhomogeneously broadened. In contrast to the normal Talbot-Lau effect, the spatially modulated density is not a periodic function of $T$, owing to spontaneous emission; however, for sufficiently long time, the contribution from spontaneous processes no longer plays a role and the Talbot periodicity is restored. The structure of the spatially modulated density is studied, and is found to mirror the atomic density following the first pulse. The spatially modulated atomic density serves as an indirect probe of the distribution of spontaneously emitted radiation.
It has been shown recently [see, for example, S.-Y. Zhu and M. O. Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 76}, 388 (1996)] that a dynamical suppression of spontaneous emission can occur in a three-level system when an external field drives transitions between a metastable state and {\em two} decaying states. What is unusual in the decay scheme is that the decaying states are coupled directly by the vacuum radiation field. It is shown that decay dynamics required for total suppression of spontaneous emission necessarily implies that the level scheme is isomorphic to a three-level lambda system, in which the lower two levels are {\em both} metastable, and each is coupled to the decaying state. As such, the total suppression of spontaneous emission can be explained in terms of conventional dark states and coherent population trapping.
The theories of recoil-induced resonances (RIR) [J. Guo, P. R. Berman, B. Dubetsky and G. Grynberg, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 46}, 1426 (1992)] and the collective atomic recoil laser (CARL) [ R. Bonifacio and L. De Salvo, Nucl. Instrum. Methods A {\bf 341}, 360 (1994)] are compared. Both theories can be used to derive expressions for the gain experienced by a probe field interacting with an ensemble of two-level atoms that are simultaneously driven by a pump field. It is shown that the RIR and CARL formalisms are equivalent. Differences between the RIR and CARL arise because the theories are typically applied for different ranges of the parameters appearing in the theory. The RIR limit considered in this paper is $qP_{0}/Mω_{q}\gg 1$, while the CARL limit is $qP_{0}/Mω_{q}\lesssim 1$, where $% q $ is the magnitude of the difference of the wave vectors of the pump and probe fields, $P_{0}$ is the width of the atomic momentum distribution and $% ω_{q}$ is a recoil frequency. The probe gain for a probe-pump detuning equal to zero is analyzed in some detail, in order to understand how the gain arises in a system which, at first glance, might appear to have vanishing gain. Moreover, it is shown that the calculations, carried out in perturbation theory have a range of applicability beyond the recoil problem. Experimental possibilities for observing CARL are discussed.
An atom-field geometry is chosen in which an atomic beam traverses a field interaction zone consisting of three fields, one having frequency $Ω=c/λ$ propagating in the $\hat{z}$ direction and the other two having frequencies $Ω+δ_{1}$ and $Ω+δ_{2}$ propagating in the -$\hat{z}$ direction. For $n_{1}δ_{1}+n_{2}δ_{2}=0$ and $|δ_{1}| T,|δ_{2}| T\gg 1$, where $n_{1}$ and $n_{2}$ are positive integers and $T$ is the pulse duration in the atomic rest frame, the atom-field interaction results in the creation of atom amplitude and phase gratings having period $% λ/[2(n_{1}+n_{2})]$. In this manner, one can use optical fields having wavelength $λ$ to produce atom gratings having periodicity much less than $λ$.