15,134 research outputs found
Construction of localized wave functions for a disordered optical lattice and analysis of the resulting Hubbard model parameters
We propose a method to construct localized single particle wave functions
using imaginary time projection and thereby determine lattice Hamiltonian
parameters. We apply the method to a specific disordered potential generated by
an optical lattice experiment and calculate for each instance of disorder, the
equivalent lattice model parameters. The probability distributions of the
Hubbard parameters are then determined. Tests of localization and eigen-energy
convergence are examined.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figure
Coherent Backscattering of Light with Nonlinear Atomic Scatterers
We study coherent backscattering of a monochromatic laser by a dilute gas of
cold two-level atoms in the weakly nonlinear regime. The nonlinear response of
the atoms results in a modification of both the average field propagation
(nonlinear refractive index) and the scattering events. Using a perturbative
approach, the nonlinear effects arise from inelastic two-photon scattering
processes. We present a detailed diagrammatic derivation of the elastic and
inelastic components of the backscattering signal both for scalar and vectorial
photons. Especially, we show that the coherent backscattering phenomenon
originates in some cases from the interference between three different
scattering amplitudes. This is in marked contrast with the linear regime where
it is due to the interference between two different scattering amplitudes. In
particular we show that, if elastically scattered photons are filtered out from
the photo-detection signal, the nonlinear backscattering enhancement factor
exceeds the linear barrier two, consistently with a three-amplitude
interference effect.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Finite momentum condensation in a pumped microcavity
We calculate the absorption spectra of a semiconductor microcavity into which
a non-equilibrium exciton population has been pumped. We predict strong peaks
in the spectrum corresponding to collective modes analogous to the Cooper modes
in superconductors and fermionic atomic gases. These modes can become unstable,
leading to the formation of off-equilibrium quantum condensates. We calculate a
phase diagram for condensation, and show that the dominant instabilities can be
at a finite momentum. Thus we predict the formation of inhomogeneous
condensates, similar to Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov states.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, updated to accepted versio
Model-independent measurements of the sodium magneto-optical trap's excited-state population
We present model-independent measurements of the excited-state population of
atoms in a sodium (Na) magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a hybrid ion-neutral
trap composed of a MOT and a linear Paul trap (LPT). We photoionize excited Na
atoms trapped in the MOT and use two independent methods to measure the
resulting ions: directly by trapping them in our LPT, and indirectly by
monitoring changes in MOT fluorescence. By measuring the ionization rate via
these two independent methods, we have enough information to directly determine
the population of MOT atoms in the excited-state. The resulting measurement
reveals that there is a range of trapping-laser intensities where the
excited-state population of atoms in our MOT follows the standard two-level
model intensity-dependence. However, an experimentally determined effective
saturation intensity must be used instead of the theoretically predicted value
from the two-level model. We measured the effective saturation intensity to be
for the type-I Na MOT and
for the type-II Na MOT,
approximately 1.7 and 3.6 times the theoretical estimate, respectively. Lastly,
at large trapping-laser intensities, our experiment reveals a clear departure
from the two-level model at a critical intensity that we believe is due to a
state-mixing effect, whose critical intensity can be determined by a simple
power broadening model.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Evidence of sympathetic cooling of Na+ ions by a Na MOT in a hybrid trap
A hybrid ion-neutral trap provides an ideal system to study collisional
dynamics between ions and neutrals. This system provides a general cooling
method that can be applied to optically inaccessible species and can also
potentially cool internal degrees of freedom. The long range polarization
potentials () between ions and neutrals result in large
scattering cross sections at cold temperatures, making the hybrid trap a
favorable system for efficient sympathetic cooling of ions by collisions with
neutral atoms. We present experimental evidence of sympathetic cooling in a
hybrid trap of \ce{Na+} ions, which are closed shell and therefore do not have
a laser induced atomic transition, by equal mass cold Na atoms in a
magneto-optical trap (MOT).Comment: 7 figure
Localization of correlated fermions in optical lattices with speckle disorder
Strongly correlated fermions in three- and two-dimensional optical lattices
with experimentally realistic speckle disorder are investigated. We extend and
apply the statistical dynamical mean-field theory, which treats local
correlations non-perturbatively, to incorporate on-site and hopping-type
randomness on equal footing. Localization due to disorder is detected via the
probability distribution function of the local density of states. We obtain a
complete paramagnetic ground state phase diagram for experimentally realistic
parameters and find a strong suppression of the correlation-induced metal
insulator transition due to disorder. Our results indicate that the
Anderson-Mott and the Mott insulator are not continuously connected due to the
specific character of speckle disorder. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of
finite temperature on the single-particle spectral function.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, published versio
Coherent imaging of a pure phase object with classical incoherent light
By using the ghost imaging technique, we experimentally demonstrate the
reconstruction of the diffraction pattern of a {\em pure phase} object by using
the classical correlation of incoherent thermal light split on a beam splitter.
The results once again underline that entanglement is not a necessary feature
of ghost imaging. The light we use is spatially highly incoherent with respect
to the object (m speckle size) and is produced by a
pseudo-thermal source relying on the principle of near-field scattering. We
show that in these conditions no information on the phase object can be
retrieved by only measuring the light that passed through it, neither in a
direct measurement nor in a Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) scheme. In general, we
show a remarkable complementarity between ghost imaging and the HBT scheme when
dealing with a phase object.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. Published in Physical Review A. Replaced
version fixes some problems with Figs. 1, 4 and 1
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