Proliferation of atomic wave packets at the nodes of a standing light wave

Journal Article · Sun Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063776109110041· OSTI ID:21443672

Prants, S. V., E-mail: [e-mail].r ^[1]

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1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far East Division (Russian Federation)

A quantum analysis is presented of the motion and internal state of a two-level atom in a strong standing-wave light field. Coherent evolution of the atomic wave-packet, atomic dipole moment, and population inversion strongly depends on the ratio between the detuning from atom-field resonance and a characteristic atomic frequency. In the basis of dressed states, atomic motion is represented as wave-packet motion in two effective optical potentials. At exact resonance, coherent population trapping is observed when an atom with zero momentum is centered at a standing-wave node. When the detuning is comparable to the characteristic atomic frequency, the atom crossing a node may or may not undergo a transition between the potentials with probabilities that are similar in order of magnitude. In this detuning range, atomic wave packets proliferate at the nodes of the standing wave. This phenomenon is interpreted as a quantum manifestation of chaotic transport of classical atoms observed in earlier studies. For a certain detuning range, there exists an interval of initial momentum values such that the atom simultaneously oscillates in an optical potential well and moves as a ballistic particle. This behavior of a wave packet is a quantum analog of a classical random walk of an atom, when it enters and leaves optical potential wells in a seemingly irregular manner and freely moves both ways in a periodic standing light wave. In a far-detuned field, the transition probability between the potentials is low, and adiabatic wave-packet evolution corresponding to regular classical motion of an atom is observed.

• OSTI ID: 21443672
• Journal Information: Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Vol. 109, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1134/S1063776109110041; Copyright (c) 2009 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; ISSN 1063-7761
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
CHAOS THEORY
DIPOLE MOMENTS
GRAPH THEORY
PERIODICITY
POPULATION INVERSION
POTENTIALS
PROBABILITY
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RANDOMNESS
RESONANCE
STANDING WAVES
TRAPPING
VISIBLE RADIATION
WAVE PACKETS
WAVE PROPAGATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICS
RADIATIONS
VARIATIONS