Quantized Rotation of Atoms from Photons with Orbital Angular Momentum

Journal Article · Fri Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.170406· OSTI ID:20861031

Andersen, M F; Ryu, C; Clade, Pierre; Natarajan, Vasant; Vaziri, A; Helmerson, K; Phillips, W D ^[1]

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1. Atomic Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8424 (United States)

We demonstrate the coherent transfer of the orbital angular momentum of a photon to an atom in quantized units of ({Dirac_h}/2{pi}), using a 2-photon stimulated Raman process with Laguerre-Gaussian beams to generate an atomic vortex state in a Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms. We show that the process is coherent by creating superpositions of different vortex states, where the relative phase between the states is determined by the relative phases of the optical fields. Furthermore, we create vortices of charge 2 by transferring to each atom the orbital angular momentum of two photons.

• OSTI ID: 20861031
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.170406; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
PHOTONS
ROTATION
SODIUM
VORTICES