34 research outputs found
Spatial diffusion in a periodic optical lattice: revisiting the Sisyphus effect
We numerically study the spatial diffusion of an atomic cloud experiencing
Sisyphus cooling in a three-dimensional linlin optical lattice in a broad
range of lattice parameters. In particular, we investigate the dependence on
the size of the lattice sites which changes with the angle between the laser
beams. We show that the steady-state temperature is largely independent of the
lattice angle, but that the spatial diffusion changes significantly. It is
shown that the numerical results fulfil the Einstein relations of Brownian
motion in the jumping regime as well as in the oscillating regime. We finally
derive an effective Brownian motion model from first principles which gives
good agreement with the simulations.Comment: accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
Synchronization of Hamiltonian motion and dissipative effects in optical lattices: Evidence for a stochastic resonance
We theoretically study the influence of the noise strength on the excitation
of the Brillouin propagation modes in a dissipative optical lattice. We show
that the excitation has a resonant behavior for a specific amount of noise
corresponding to the precise synchronization of the Hamiltonian motion on the
optical potential surfaces and the dissipative effects associated with optical
pumping in the lattice. This corresponds to the phenomenon of stochastic
resonance. Our results are obtained by numerical simulations and correspond to
the analysis of microscopic quantities (atomic spatial distributions) as well
as macroscopic quantities (enhancement of spatial diffusion and pump-probe
spectra). We also present a simple analytical model in excellent agreement with
the simulations
Atom cooling and trapping by disorder
We demonstrate the possibility of three-dimensional cooling of neutral atoms
by illuminating them with two counterpropagating laser beams of mutually
orthogonal linear polarization, where one of the lasers is a speckle field,
i.e. a highly disordered but stationary coherent light field. This
configuration gives rise to atom cooling in the transverse plane via a Sisyphus
cooling mechanism similar to the one known in standard two-dimensional optical
lattices formed by several plane laser waves. However, striking differences
occur in the spatial diffusion coefficients as well as in local properties of
the trapped atoms.Comment: 11 figures (postscript
Polychromatic guide star: feasibility study
International audienceAdaptive optics at astronomical telescopes aims at correcting in real time the phase corrugations of incoming wavefronts caused by the turbulent atmosphere, as early proposed by Babcock. Measuring the phase errors requires a bright source located within the isoplanatic patch of the program source. The probability that such a reference source exists is a function of the wavelength, of the required image quality (Strehl ratio), of the turbulence optical properties, and of the direction of the observation. It turns out that the sky coverage is disastrously low in particular in the visible wavelength range where, unfortunately, the gain in spatial resolution brought by adaptive optics is the largest. Foy and Labeyrie have proposed to overcome this difficulty by creating an artificial point source in the sky in the direction of the observation relying on the backscattered light due to a laser beam. This laser guide star (hereinafter referred to as LGS) can be bright enough to allow us to accurately measure the wavefront phase errors, except for two modes which are the piston (not relevant in this case) and the tilt. Pilkington has emphasized that the round trip time of the laser beam to the mesosphere, where the LGS is most often formed, is significantly shorter than the typical tilt coherence time; then the inverse-return-of-light principle causes deflections of the outgoing and the ingoing beams to cancel. The apparent direction of the LGS is independent of the tilt. Therefore the tilt cannot be measured only from the LGS. Until now, the way to overcome this difficulty has been to use a natural guide star to sense the tilt. Although the tilt is sensed through the entire telescope pupil, one cannot use a faint source because $APEX 90% of the variance of the phase error is in the tilt. Therefore, correcting the tilt requires a higher accuracy of the measurements than for higher orders of the wavefront. Hence current adaptive optics devices coupled with a LGS face low sky coverage. Several methods have been proposed to get a partial sky coverage for the tilt. The only one providing us with a full sky coverage is the polychromatic LGS (hereafter referred to as PLGS). We present here a progress report of the R&D; program Etoile Laser Polychromatique et Optique Adaptative (ELP-OA) carried out in France to develop the PLGS concept. After a short recall of the principles of the PLGS, we will review the goal of ELP-OA and the steps to get over to bring it into play. We finally shortly described the effort in Europe to develop the LGS
Polychromatic guide star: feasibility study
International audienceAdaptive optics at astronomical telescopes aims at correcting in real time the phase corrugations of incoming wavefronts caused by the turbulent atmosphere, as early proposed by Babcock. Measuring the phase errors requires a bright source located within the isoplanatic patch of the program source. The probability that such a reference source exists is a function of the wavelength, of the required image quality (Strehl ratio), of the turbulence optical properties, and of the direction of the observation. It turns out that the sky coverage is disastrously low in particular in the visible wavelength range where, unfortunately, the gain in spatial resolution brought by adaptive optics is the largest. Foy and Labeyrie have proposed to overcome this difficulty by creating an artificial point source in the sky in the direction of the observation relying on the backscattered light due to a laser beam. This laser guide star (hereinafter referred to as LGS) can be bright enough to allow us to accurately measure the wavefront phase errors, except for two modes which are the piston (not relevant in this case) and the tilt. Pilkington has emphasized that the round trip time of the laser beam to the mesosphere, where the LGS is most often formed, is significantly shorter than the typical tilt coherence time; then the inverse-return-of-light principle causes deflections of the outgoing and the ingoing beams to cancel. The apparent direction of the LGS is independent of the tilt. Therefore the tilt cannot be measured only from the LGS. Until now, the way to overcome this difficulty has been to use a natural guide star to sense the tilt. Although the tilt is sensed through the entire telescope pupil, one cannot use a faint source because $APEX 90% of the variance of the phase error is in the tilt. Therefore, correcting the tilt requires a higher accuracy of the measurements than for higher orders of the wavefront. Hence current adaptive optics devices coupled with a LGS face low sky coverage. Several methods have been proposed to get a partial sky coverage for the tilt. The only one providing us with a full sky coverage is the polychromatic LGS (hereafter referred to as PLGS). We present here a progress report of the R&D; program Etoile Laser Polychromatique et Optique Adaptative (ELP-OA) carried out in France to develop the PLGS concept. After a short recall of the principles of the PLGS, we will review the goal of ELP-OA and the steps to get over to bring it into play. We finally shortly described the effort in Europe to develop the LGS
Brownian motors: noisy transport far from equilibrium
Transport phenomena in spatially periodic systems far from thermal
equilibrium are considered. The main emphasize is put on directed transport in
so-called Brownian motors (ratchets), i.e. a dissipative dynamics in the
presence of thermal noise and some prototypical perturbation that drives the
system out of equilibrium without introducing a priori an obvious bias into one
or the other direction of motion. Symmetry conditions for the appearance (or
not) of directed current, its inversion upon variation of certain parameters,
and quantitative theoretical predictions for specific models are reviewed as
well as a wide variety of experimental realizations and biological
applications, especially the modeling of molecular motors. Extensions include
quantum mechanical and collective effects, Hamiltonian ratchets, the influence
of spatial disorder, and diffusive transport.Comment: Revised version (Aug. 2001), accepted for publication in Physics
Report
Roll and hexagonal patterns in a phase-contrast oscillator
This paper presents a new approach to the problem of the optical instabilities
for a thin slice of Kerr medium with a feedback mirror. We show how to interpret
this instability in terms of the transverse modes of a cavity consisting of a
normal mirror and a medium having the properties of both a phase-conjugate mirror
and a normal mirror that we called phase-contrast mirror. The threshold condition
for this instability and the properties of a few patterns (rolls and hexagons)
above the oscillation threshold are discussed.Cet article présente une nouvelle approche au problème des instabilités optiques
dans un milieu Kerr face à un miroir de réaction. Il montre comment les instabilités
apparaissant peuvent être comprises en termes de modes transverses d'une cavité
consistant en un miroir normal et un milieu possédant à la fois les propriétés
d'un miroir à conjugaison de phase et celles d'un miroir normal appelé miroir à
contraste de phase. La condition de seuil pour l'instabilité est établie ainsi
que le comportement de diverses formes (rouleaux, hexagones) au-dessus du seuil
d'oscillation