39 research outputs found
Light scattering from ultracold atoms in optical lattices as an optical probe of quantum statistics
We study off-resonant collective light scattering from ultracold atoms
trapped in an optical lattice. Scattering from different atomic quantum states
creates different quantum states of the scattered light, which can be
distinguished by measurements of the spatial intensity distribution, quadrature
variances, photon statistics, or spectral measurements. In particular,
angle-resolved intensity measurements reflect global statistics of atoms (total
number of radiating atoms) as well as local statistical quantities (single-site
statistics even without an optical access to a single site) and pair
correlations between different sites. As a striking example we consider
scattering from transversally illuminated atoms into an optical cavity mode.
For the Mott insulator state, similar to classical diffraction, the number of
photons scattered into a cavity is zero due to destructive interference, while
for the superfluid state it is nonzero and proportional to the number of atoms.
Moreover, we demonstrate that light scattering into a standing-wave cavity has
a nontrivial angle dependence, including the appearance of narrow features at
angles, where classical diffraction predicts zero. The measurement procedure
corresponds to the quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement of various atomic
variables by observing light.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Cavity enhanced light scattering in optical lattices to probe atomic quantum statistics
Different quantum states of atoms in optical lattices can be nondestructively
monitored by off-resonant collective light scattering into a cavity. Angle
resolved measurements of photon number and variance give information about
atom-number fluctuations and pair correlations without single-site access.
Observation at angles of diffraction minima provides information on quantum
fluctuations insensitive to classical noise. For transverse probing, no photon
is scattered into a cavity from a Mott insulator phase, while the photon number
is proportional to the atom number for a superfluid.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to published in Phys. Rev. Lett. (March 2007
Quantum Optics with Quantum Gases
Quantum optics with quantum gases represents a new field, where the quantum
nature of both light and ultracold matter plays equally important role. Only
very recently this ultimate quantum limit of light-matter interaction became
feasible experimentally. In traditional quantum optics, the cold atoms are
considered classically, whereas, in quantum atom optics, the light is used as
an essentially classical axillary tool. On the one hand, the quantization of
optical trapping potentials can significantly modify many-body dynamics of
atoms, which is well-known only for classical potentials. On the other hand,
atomic fluctuations can modify the properties of the scattered light.Comment: to be published in Laser Physics (2009
Strong light-matter coupling: parametric interactions in a cavity and free-space
We consider parametric interactions of laser pulses in a coherent macroscopic
ensemble of resonant atoms, which are possible in the strong coupling regime of
light-matter interaction. The spectrum condensation (lasing at collective
vacuum Rabi sidebands) was studied in an active cavity configuration.
Parametric interactions under the strong light-matter coupling were proved even
in free space. In contrast to bichromatic beats in a cavity, they were shown to
appear due to interference between polaritonic wave packets of different group
velocities.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Few-body bound states in dipolar gases and their detection
We consider dipolar interactions between heteronuclear molecules in a
low-dimensional setup consisting of two one-dimensional tubes. We demonstrate
that attraction between molecules in different tubes can overcome intratube
repulsion and complexes with several molecules in the same tube are stable. In
situ detection schemes of the few-body complexes are proposed. We discuss
extensions to the case of many tubes and layers, and outline the implications
of our results on many-body physics.Comment: Published versio
Probing superfluidity of periodically trapped ultracold atoms in a cavity by transmission spectroscopy
We study a system of periodic Bose condensed atoms coupled to cavity photons
using the input-output formalism. We show that the cavity will either act as a
through pass Lorentzian filter when the superfluid fraction of the condensate
is minimum or completely reflect the input field when the superfluid fraction
is maximum. We show that by monitoring the ratio between the transmitted field
and the reflected field, one can estimate the superfluid fraction.Comment: 3 page
Bright and dark excitons in an atom--pair filled optical lattice within a cavity
We study electronic excitations of a degenerate gas of atoms trapped in pairs
in an optical lattice. Local dipole-dipole interactions produce a long lived
antisymmetric and a short lived symmetric superposition of individual atomic
excitations as the lowest internal on-site excitations. Due to the much larger
dipole moment the symmetric states couple efficiently to neighbouring lattice
sites and can be well represented by Frenkel excitons, while the antisymmetric
dark states stay localized. Within a cavity only symmetric states couple to
cavity photons inducing long range interactions to form polaritons. We
calculate their dispersion curves as well as cavity transmission and reflection
spectra to observe them. For a lattice with aspherical sites bright and dark
states get mixed and their relative excitation energies depend on photon
polarizations. The system should allow to study new types of solid state
phenomena in atom filled optical lattices
Few-Body Bound Complexes in One-dimensional Dipolar Gases and Non-Destructive Optical Detection
We consider dipolar interactions between heteronuclear molecules in
low-dimensional geometries. The setup consists of two one-dimensional tubes. We
study the stability of possible few-body complexes in the regime of repulsive
intratube interaction, where the binding arises from intertube attraction. The
stable dimers, trimers, and tetramers are found and we discuss their properties
for both bosonic and fermionic molecules. To observe these complexes we propose
an optical non-destructive detection scheme that enables in-situ observation of
the creation and dissociation of the few-body complexes. A detailed description
of the expected signal of such measurements is given using the numerically
calculated wave functions of the bound states. We also discuss implications on
the many-body physics of dipolar systems in tubular geometries, as well as
experimental issues related to the external harmonic confinement along the tube
and the prospect of applying an in-tube optical lattice to increase the
effective dipole strength.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, published versio
Quantum stability of self-organized atomic insulator-like states in optical resonators
We investigate a paradigm example of cavity quantum electrodynamics with many
body systems: an ultracold atomic gas inside a pumped optical resonator. In
particular, we study the stability of atomic insulator-like states, confined by
the mechanical potential emerging from the cavity field spatial mode structure.
As in open space, when the optical potential is sufficiently deep, the atomic
gas is in the Mott-like state. Inside the cavity, however, the potential
depends on the atomic distribution, which determines the refractive index of
the medium, thus altering the intracavity field amplitude. We derive the
effective Bose-Hubbard model describing the physics of the system in one
dimension and study the crossover between the superfluid -- Mott insulator
quantum states. We determine the regions of parameters where the atomic
insulator states are stable, and predict the existence of overlapping stability
regions corresponding to competing insulator-like states. Bistable behavior,
controlled by the pump intensity, is encountered in the vicinity of the shifted
cavity resonance.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Replaced with revised version. Accepted for
publication in New J. Phys., special issue "Quantum correlations in tailord
matter