Resonant Transmission of Cold Atoms through Subwavelength Apertures

Journal Article · Fri Oct 21 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.170406· OSTI ID:20699452

Moreno, Esteban; Fernandez-Dominguez, A I; Garcia-Vidal, F J ^[1]; Cirac, J Ignacio ^[2]; Martin-Moreno, L ^[3]

---

1. Departamento de Fisica Teorica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid (Spain)
2. Max Planck Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
3. Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, E-50009 Zaragoza (Spain)

Recently, it has been observed that transmission of light through subwavelength apertures, which is usually negligible, can be significantly enhanced when surface plasmons are resonantly excited. Here we introduce the idea that similar effects can be expected for cold atoms in structures supporting surface matter waves. We show that surface matter waves are possible in properly designed structures, and then we theoretically demonstrate 100% transmission of rubidium atoms through an array of slits much narrower than the de Broglie wavelength of the atoms. Our results open up the possibility of using surface matter waves to control the flow of neutral atoms.

• OSTI ID: 20699452
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 95; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
APERTURES
ATOMS
DE BROGLIE WAVELENGTH
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
PLASMONS
RUBIDIUM
SURFACES
VISIBLE RADIATION