The rapidly developing field of optomechanics aims at the com- bined control of optical and mechanical modes1–3. In cold atoms, the spontaneous emergence of spatial structures due to opto- mechanical back-action has been observed in one dimension in optical cavities3–8 or highly anisotropic samples9. Extensions to higher dimensions that aim to exploit multimode configurations have been suggested theoretically10–16. Here, we describe a simple experiment with many spatial degrees of freedom, in which two continuous symmetries—rotation and translation in the plane orthogonal to a pump beam axis—are spontaneously broken. We observe the simultaneous long- range spatial structuring (with hexagonal symmetry) of the density of a cold atomic cloud and of the pump optical field, with adjustable length scale. Being based on coherent phenom- ena (diffraction and the dipole force), this scheme can poten- tially be extended to quantum degenerate gases
Cold atom setups are now commonly employed in simulations of condensed matter phenomena. We present an approach to induce strong magnetic interactions between atoms on a self-organized lattice using diffraction of light. Diffractive propagation of structured light fields leads to an exchange between phase and amplitude modulated planes which can be used to couple atomic degrees of freedom via optical pumping nonlinearities. In the experiment a cold cloud of Rb atoms placed near a retro-reflecting mirror is driven by a detuned pump laser. We demonstrate spontaneous magnetic ordering in the Zeeman sublevels of the atomic ground state: anti-ferromagnetic structures on a square lattice and ferrimagnetic structures on a hexagonal lattice in zero and a weak longitudinal magnetic field, respectively. The ordered state is destroyed by a transverse magnetic field via coherent dynamics. A connection to the transverse (quantum) Ising model is drawn.
Experimental, theoretical and numerical evidence of optomechanical self-structuring of a laser beam in a cloud of cold atoms in a single-mirror feedback configuration is presented. Optomechanical dissipative solitons can be encoded in the atomic density.
Cold atom setups are now commonly employed in simulations of condensed matter phenomena. We present an approach to induce strong magnetic interactions between atoms on a self-organized lattice using diffraction of light. Diffractive propagation of structured light fields leads to an exchange between phase and amplitude modulated planes which can be used to couple atomic degrees of freedom via optical pumping nonlinearities. In the experiment a cold cloud of Rb atoms placed near a retro-reflecting mirror is driven by a detuned pump laser. We demonstrate spontaneous magnetic ordering in the Zeeman sublevels of the atomic ground state: anti-ferromagnetic structures on a square lattice and ferrimagnetic structures on a hexagonal lattice in zero and a weak longitudinal magnetic field, respectively. The ordered state is destroyed by a transverse magnetic field via coherent dynamics. A connection to the transverse (quantum) Ising model is drawn.
We study non-equilibrium spatial self-organization in cold atomic gases, where long-range spatial order spontaneously emerges from fluctuations in the plane transverse to the propagation axis of a single optical beam. The self-organization process can be interpreted as a synchronization transition in a fully connected network of fictitious oscillators, and described in terms of the Kuramoto model.
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