Lattice-depth measurement using continuous grating atom diffraction

Beswick, Benjamin T.; Hughes, Ifan G.; Gardiner, Simon A.

Abstract

We propose an approach to characterizing the depths of optical lattices, in which either an atomic gas is given a finite initial momentum or, alternatively, a corresponding “walking” configuration is applied to the optical lattice itself. This leads to high-amplitude oscillations in the zeroth diffraction order which are robust to finite-temperature effects. We present a simplified model yielding an analytic formula describing such oscillations for a gas assumed to be at zero temperature. This model is extended to include atoms with initial momenta detuned from our chosen initial value, before analyzing the full finite-temperature response of the system. Finally, we present a steady-state solution to the finite-temperature system, which in principle makes possible the measurement of both the lattice depth and the initial temperature of the atomic gas from a single common data set.

Citation

Beswick, B. T., Hughes, I. G., & Gardiner, S. A. (2019). Lattice-depth measurement using continuous grating atom diffraction. Physical Review A, 100(6), Article 063629. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.100.063629

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 8, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Dec 16, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 16, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2020
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 100
• Issue: 6
• Article Number: 063629
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.100.063629