Spontaneous emergence of free-space optical and atomic patterns

Schmittberger, Bonnie L.; Gauthier, Daniel J.

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/18/10/103021

Cited by 22 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This is similar to the symmetry breaking in multimode cavities 29,30 , but different from transversely pumped singlemode cavities [31][32][33][34] in which the symmetry and orientation of the spatial structures is determined by the pump and cavity axis. For cold quasi-2-level atoms in non-cavity schemes, the spontaneous emergence of ordered structures was demonstrated previously in experiments using either opto-mechanical nonlinearities due to the dipole force 35 or Sisyphus cooling-assisted bunching 36,37 or inversion patterns due to the saturation of the atomic transition 38 . In order to produce magnetic ordering, the magnetic substructure of the atomic states can be exploited.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms

Krešić¹,

Labeyrie²,

Robb³

et al. 2018

Commun Phys

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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.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms

Krešić¹,

Labeyrie²,

Robb³

et al. 2018

Commun Phys

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“…The spin-1 model thus accounts for the experimental dependence of pattern properties on the longitudinal magnetic field, exhibiting dependence on both dipole and quadrupole magnetic components of the density matrix expansion. This constitutes a step beyond previous work on spin-1/2 models [8,27,29,30,50,54]. Optical interference in Rb vapors with multilevel structure has recently been employed to observe interesting linear [58] and nonlinear [59] optical effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…This multimode situation is inherent in the SFM setup and arises due to transverse rotational and translational symmetries of the initial system. Light-mediated self-organization of atomic degrees of freedom in multimode configurations is currently generating some interest, with possible broader implications for the field of condensed-matter physics [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In addition to the optomechanical effects, spinor effects have sparked interest in this community as well [15,18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Light-mediated cold-atom self-organization is an emerging research avenue with potential applications in metrology and condensed matter simulation [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. In this paper, we study the phenomenon of self-organization arising in an optically nonlinear sample due to diffractive coupling via single mirror feedback [20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inversion-symmetry breaking in spin patterns by a weak magnetic field

et al. 2019

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Laser-driven cold atoms near a plane retroreflecting mirror exhibit self-organization above a pump threshold. We analyze the properties of self-organized spin patterns in the ground state of cold rubidium atoms. Antiferromagnetic patterns in zero magnetic field give way to ferrimagnetic patterns if a small longitudinal field is applied. We demonstrate how the experimental system can be modeled as spin-1 atoms diffractively coupled by the light reflected by the mirror. The roles of both dipolar and quadrupolar magnetization components in determining the threshold and symmetry variations with a weak longitudinal magnetic field are examined. Although the magnetic structures correspond dominantly to a lattice of magnetic dipoles, the symmetry breaking to ferrimagnetic structures in a finite field is mediated by the coupling to a homogenous quadrupole (alignment), which is not possible in a spin-1/2 system. Our study provides a basis for further exploration of instabilities in driven multilevel systems with feedback.

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“…[42][43][44][45][46][47] ). Furthermore, progress in optical trapping and cooling technology has enabled ensembles with high optical density to make single-mirror feedback and counter-propagating beam experiments feasible in cold atom setups [48][49][50][51][52][53][54] . As a first result on magnetic ordering, Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic phase diagram of light-mediated spin structuring in cold atoms

Labeyrie¹,

Krešić²,

Robb³

et al. 2018

Optica

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When applying a red-detuned retro-reflected laser beam to a large cloud of cold atoms, we observe the spontaneous formation of 2D structures in the transverse plane corresponding to high contrast spatial modulations of both light field and atomic spins. By applying a weak magnetic field, we explore the rich resulting phase space and identify specific phases associated with both dipolar and quadrupolar terms of the atomic magnetic moment. In particular we demonstrate spontaneous structures in optically induced ground state coherences representing magnetic quadrupoles.

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Spontaneous emergence of free-space optical and atomic patterns

Cited by 22 publications

References 30 publications

Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms

Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms

Inversion-symmetry breaking in spin patterns by a weak magnetic field

Magnetic phase diagram of light-mediated spin structuring in cold atoms

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