We show that periodically doped, flat surfaces can act as reflective diffraction gratings for atomic and molecular matter waves. The diffraction element is realized by exploiting that charged dopants locally suppress quantum reflection from the Casimir-Polder potential. We present a general quantum scattering theory for reflection off periodically charged surfaces and discuss the requirements for the observation of multiple diffraction peaks.
Quantum reflection of thermal He atoms from various surfaces (glass slide, GaAs wafer, flat and structured Cr) at grazing conditions is studied within the elastic close-coupling formalism. Comparison with the experimental results of B.S. Zhao et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 105}, 133203 (2010) is quite reasonable but the conclusions of the present theoretical analysis are different from those discussed in the experimental work. The universal linear behavior observed in the dependence of the reflection probability on the incident wave vector component perpendicular to the surface is only valid at small values of the component whereas, at larger values, deviation from the linearity is evident, approaching a quadratic dependence at higher values. The surface roughness seems to play no important role in this scattering. Moreover, the claim that one observes a transition from quantum to classical reflection seems to be imprecise.
We report the observation of quantum reflection from a narrow, attractive, potential using bright solitary matter-waves formed from a 85Rb Bose-Einstein condensate. We create narrow potentials using a tightly focused, red-detuned laser beam, and observe reflection of up to 25% of the atoms, along with the trapping of atoms at the position of the beam. We show that the observed reflected fraction is much larger than theoretical predictions for a narrow Gaussian potential well; a more detailed model of bright soliton propagation, accounting for the generic presence of small subsidiary intensity maxima in the red-detuned beam, suggests that these small intensity maxima are the cause of this enhanced reflection.
Theoretical treatments of periodically-driven quantum thermal machines (PD-QTMs) are largely focused on the limit-cycle stage of operation characterized by a periodic state of the system. Yet, this regime is not immediately accessible for experimental verification. Here, we present a general thermodynamic framework that can handle the performance of PD-QTMs both before and during the limit-cycle stage of operation. It is achieved by observing that periodicity may break down at the ensemble average level, even in the limit-cycle phase. With this observation, and using conventional thermodynamic expressions for work and heat, we find that a complete description of the first law of thermodynamics for PD-QTMs requires a new contribution, which vanishes only in the limit-cycle phase under rather weak system-bath couplings. Significantly, this contribution is substantial at strong couplings even at limit cycle, thus largely affecting the behavior of the thermodynamic efficiency. We demonstrate our framework by simulating a quantum Otto engine building upon a driven resonant level model. Our results provide new insights towards a complete description of PD-QTMs, from turn-on to the limit-cycle stage and, particularly, shed light on the development of quantum thermodynamics at strong coupling.
Quantum systems can show qualitatively new forms of behavior when they are driven by fast time-periodic modulations. In the limit of large driving frequency, the long-time dynamics of such systems can often be described by a time-independent effective Hamiltonian, which is generally identified through a perturbative treatment. Here, we present a general formalism that describes time-modulated physical systems, in which the driving frequency is large, but resonant with respect to energy spacings inherent to the system at rest. Such a situation is currently exploited in optical-lattice setups, where superlattice (or Wannier-Stark-ladder) potentials are resonantly modulated so as to control the tunneling matrix elements between lattice sites, offering a powerful method to generate artificial fluxes for cold-atom systems. The formalism developed in this work identifies the basic ingredients needed to generate interesting flux patterns and band structures using resonant modulations. Additionally, our approach allows for a simple description of the micro-motion underlying the dynamics; we illustrate its characteristics based on diverse dynamic-lattice configurations. It is shown that the impact of the micro-motion on physical observables strongly depends on the implemented scheme, suggesting that a theoretical description in terms of the effective Hamiltonian alone is generally not sufficient to capture the full time-evolution of the system.
We employ active feedback to stabilize the frequency of single photons emitted by two separate quantum dots to an atomic standard. The transmission of a single, rubidium-based Faraday filter serves as the error signal for frequency stabilization to less than 1.5% of the emission linewidth. Long-term stability is demonstrated by Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between photons from the two quantum dots. The observed visibility of $V_{mathrm{lock}}=(41 pm 5)$% is limited only by internal dephasing of the dots. Our approach facilitates quantum networks with indistinguishable photons from distributed emitters.
Benjamin A. Stickler
,Uzi Even
,Klaus Hornberger
.
(2014)
.
"Quantum reflection and interference of matter waves from periodically doped surfaces"
.
Benjamin Stickler
هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا