Quantized Rotation of Atoms from Photons with Orbital Angular Momentum

M. F. Andersen, C. Ryu, Pierre Cladé, Vasant Natarajan, A. Vaziri, K. Helmerson, and W. D. Phillips
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 170406 – Published 26 October 2006

Abstract

We demonstrate the coherent transfer of the orbital angular momentum of a photon to an atom in quantized units of , using a 2-photon stimulated Raman process with Laguerre-Gaussian beams to generate an atomic vortex state in a Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms. We show that the process is coherent by creating superpositions of different vortex states, where the relative phase between the states is determined by the relative phases of the optical fields. Furthermore, we create vortices of charge 2 by transferring to each atom the orbital angular momentum of two photons.

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  • Received 26 June 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.170406

Authors & Affiliations

M. F. Andersen, C. Ryu, Pierre Cladé, Vasant Natarajan, A. Vaziri, K. Helmerson, and W. D. Phillips

  • Atomic Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8424, USA

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Issue

Vol. 97, Iss. 17 — 27 October 2006

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