No Arabic abstract
Stimulated optical forces offer a simple and efficient method for providing optical forces far in excess of the saturated radiative force. The bichromatic force, using a counterpropagating pair of two-color beams, has so far been the most effective of these stimulated forces for deflecting and slowing atomic beams. We have numerically studied the evolution of a two-level system under several different bichromatic and polychromatic light fields, while retaining the overall geometry of the bichromatic force. New insights are gained by studying the time-dependent trajectory of the Bloch vector, including a better understanding of the remarkable robustness of bi- and polychromatic forces with imbalanced beam intensities. We show that a four-color polychromatic force exhibits great promise. By adding new frequency components at the third harmonic of the original bichromatic detuning, the force is increased by nearly 50% and its velocity range is extended by a factor of three, while the required laser power is increased by only 33%. The excited-state fraction, crucial to possible application to molecules, is reduced from 41% to 24%. We also discuss some important differences between polychromatic forces and pulse trains from a high-repetition-rate laser.
We have implemented a control system for experiments in atomic, molecular and optical physics based on a commercial low-cost board, featuring a field-programmable gate array as part of a system-on-a-chip on which a Linux operating system is running. The board features Gigabit Ethernet, allowing for fast data transmission and operation of remote experimental systems. A single board can control a set of devices generating digital, analog and radio frequency signals with a precise timing given either by an external or internal clock. Contiguous output and input sampling rates of up to 40 MHz are achievable. Several boards can run synchronously with a timing error approaching 1 ns. For this purpose, a novel auto-synchronization scheme is demonstrated, with possible application in complex distributed experimental setups with demanding timing requests.
We demonstrate coherent one-color photoassociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, which results in Rabi oscillations between atomic and molecular condensates. We attain atom-molecule Rabi frequencies that are comparable to decoherence rates by driving photoassociation of atoms in an $^{88}$Sr condensate to a weakly-bound level of the metastable $^{1}S_{0}+^{3}P_{1}$ molecular potential, which has a long lifetime and large Franck-Condon overlap integral with the ground scattering state. Transient shifts and broadenings of the excitation spectrum are clearly seen at short times, and they create an asymmetric excitation profile that only displays Rabi oscillations for blue detuning from resonance.
New particles can manifest their effects in many settings, ranging from effects on sub-atomic to galactic length scales. The nature of these effects depends on the specific particles and their non-gravitational interactions. In this chapter, we give a brief overview of how atomic, molecular and optical systems can be used to search for new particles. To illustrate the basic principles behind these methods, we focus on the simplest class of particles, namely new spinless bosons.
Postulating the existence of a fnite-mass mediator of T,P-odd coupling between atomic electrons and nucleons we consider its effect on permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of diamagnetic atoms. We present both numerical and analytical analysis for such mediator-induced EDMs and compare it with EDM results for the conventional contact interaction. Based on this analysis we derive limits on coupling strengths and carrier masses from experimental limits on EDM of 199Hg atom.
About two generations ago, a large part of AMO science was dominated by experimental high energy collision studies and perturbative theoretical methods. Since then, AMO science has undergone a transition and is now dominated by quantum, ultracold, and ultrafast studies. But in the process, the field has passed over the complexity that lies between these two extremes. Most of the Universe resides in this intermediate region. We put forward that the next frontier for AMO science is to explore the AMO complexity that describes most of the Cosmos.