Realistic Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling for neutral atoms

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.84.025602· OSTI ID:22068600

Campbell, D L; Spielman, I B ^[1]; Juzeliunas, G ^[2]

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1. Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 (United States)
2. Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University, A. Gostauto 12, Vilnius LT-01108 (Lithuania)

We describe a new class of atom-laser coupling schemes which lead to spin-orbit-coupled Hamiltonians for ultracold neutral atoms. By properly setting the optical phases, a pair of degenerate pseudospin (a linear combination of internal atomic) states emerge as the lowest-energy eigenstates in the spectrum and are thus immune to collisionally induced decay. These schemes use N cyclically coupled ground or metastable internal states. We focus on two situations: a three-level case and a four-level case, where the latter adds a controllable Dresselhaus contribution. We describe an implementation of the four-level scheme for {sup 87}Rb and analyze its sensitivity to typical laboratory noise sources. Last, we argue that the Rashba Hamiltonian applies only in the large intensity limit since any laser coupling scheme will produce terms nonlinear in momentum that decline with intensity.

• OSTI ID: 22068600
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 84, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ATOMS
BACKGROUND NOISE
CRYSTALS
DECAY
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
EIGENSTATES
ENERGY LEVELS
HAMILTONIANS
LASERS
L-S COUPLING
MATRIX ELEMENTS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PAULI SPIN OPERATORS
RUBIDIUM 87
SPECTRA
SPIN