Spinor Slow-Light and Dirac Particles with Variable Mass

Journal Article · Fri Oct 22 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.173603· OSTI ID:21476591

Unanyan, R G; Otterbach, J; Fleischhauer, M; Ruseckas, J; Kudriasov, V; Juzeliunas, G ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern (Germany)

We consider the interaction of two weak probe fields of light with an atomic ensemble coherently driven by two pairs of standing wave laser fields in a tripod-type linkage scheme. The system is shown to exhibit a Dirac-like spectrum for light-matter quasiparticles with multiple dark states, termed spinor slow-light polaritons. They posses an 'effective speed of light' given by the group velocity of slow light, and can be made massive by inducing a small two-photon detuning. Control of the two-photon detuning can be used to locally vary the mass including a sign flip. Particularly, this allows the implementation of the random-mass Dirac model for which localized zero-energy (midgap) states exist with unusual long-range correlations.

• OSTI ID: 21476591
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.173603; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CORRELATIONS
LASER RADIATION
MASS
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
PHOTONS
POLARONS
RANDOMNESS
SPINORS
STANDING WAVES
VISIBLE RADIATION
ATOM COLLISIONS
BOSONS
COLLISIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
PHOTON COLLISIONS
QUASI PARTICLES
RADIATIONS