Cold atoms in cavity-generated dynamical optical potentials

Helmut Ritsch, Peter Domokos, Ferdinand Brennecke, and Tilman Esslinger
Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 553 – Published 2 April 2013

Abstract

This is a review of state-of-the-art theory and experiment of the motion of cold and ultracold atoms coupled to the radiation field within a high-finesse optical resonator in the dispersive regime of the atom-field interaction with small internal excitation. The optical dipole force on the atoms together with the backaction of atomic motion onto the light field gives rise to a complex nonlinear coupled dynamics. As the resonator constitutes an open driven and damped system, the dynamics is nonconservative and in general enables cooling and confining the motion of polarizable particles. In addition the emitted cavity field allows for real-time monitoring of the particle’s position with minimal perturbation up to subwavelength accuracy. For many-body systems, the resonator field mediates controllable long-range atom-atom interactions, which set the stage for collective phenomena. Besides the correlated motion of distant particles, one finds critical behavior and nonequilibrium phase transitions between states of different atomic order in conjunction with superradiant light scattering. Quantum-degenerate gases inside optical resonators can be used to emulate optomechanics as well as novel quantum phases such as supersolids and spin glasses. Nonequilibrium quantum phase transitions as predicted by, e.g., the Dicke Hamiltonian can be controlled and explored in real time via monitoring the cavity field. In combination with optical lattices, the cavity field can be utilized for nondestructive probing Hubbard physics and tailoring long-range interactions for ultracold quantum systems.

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  • Received 16 April 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.85.553

© 2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Helmut Ritsch*

  • Institut für theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Peter Domokos

  • Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1525 Budapest P.O. Box 49, Hungary

Ferdinand Brennecke and Tilman Esslinger§

  • Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland

  • *helmut.ritsch@uibk.ac.at
  • domokos.peter@wigner.mta.hu
  • brennecke@phys.ethz.ch
  • §esslinger@phys.ethz.ch

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 2 — April - June 2013

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