Subwavelength atom localization via amplitude and phase control of the absorption spectrum

Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.72.013820· OSTI ID:20718431

Sahrai, Mostafa; Tajalli, Habib ^[1]; Kapale, Kishore T ^[2]; Zubairy, M Suhail ^[3]

---

1. Department of Physics, Tabriz University, Tabriz (Iran, Islamic Republic of)
2. Quantum Computing Technologies Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 126-347, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109-8099 (United States)
3. Institute for Quantum Studies and Department of Physics, Texas A and M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4242 (United States)

We propose a scheme for subwavelength localization of an atom conditioned upon the absorption of a weak probe field at a particular frequency. Manipulating atom-field interaction on a certain transition by applying drive fields on nearby coupled transitions leads to interesting effects in the absorption spectrum of the weak probe field. We exploit this fact and employ a four-level system with three driving fields and a weak probe field, where one of the drive fields is a standing-wave field of a cavity. We show that the position of an atom along this standing wave is determined when probe-field absorption is measured. We find that absorption of the weak probe field at a certain frequency leads to subwavelength localization of the atom in either of the two half-wavelength regions of the cavity field by appropriate choice of the system parameters. We term this result as sub-half-wavelength localization to contrast it with the usual atom localization result of four peaks spread over one wavelength of the standing wave. We observe two localization peaks in either of the two half-wavelength regions along the cavity axis.

• OSTI ID: 20718431
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 72; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
AMPLITUDES
ATOMS
CONTROL
OPTICS
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
STANDING WAVES
WAVELENGTHS