Abstract
We discuss the generation of subwavelength optical barriers on the scale of tens of nanometers, as conservative optical potentials for cold atoms. These arise from nonadiabatic corrections to Born-Oppenheimer potentials from dressed “dark states” in atomic configurations. We illustrate the concepts with a double layer potential for atoms obtained from inserting an optical subwavelength barrier into a well generated by an off-resonant optical lattice, and discuss bound states of pairs of atoms interacting via magnetic dipolar interactions. The subwavelength optical barriers represent an optical “Kronig-Penney” potential. We present a detailed study of the band structure in optical Kronig-Penney potentials, including decoherence from spontaneous emission and atom loss to open “bright” channels.
- Received 26 July 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.233001
© 2016 American Physical Society