Coherent tunneling by adiabatic passage in an optical waveguide system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first experimental realization of Coherent Tunnelling by Adiabatic Passage (CTAP) using an optical waveguide system, visually confirming the tunneling process without middle well excitation.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental demonstration of CTAP in an optical waveguide, confirming theoretical predictions and illustrating coherent light transfer in engineered structures.

Findings

Successful visualization of CTAP wavepacket dynamics

Light tunnels between outer wells without middle well excitation

Experimental confirmation of CTAP in optical systems

Abstract

We report on the first experimental demonstration of light transfer in an engineered triple-well optical waveguide structure which provides a classic analogue of Coherent Tunnelling by Adiabatic Passage (CTAP) recently proposed for coherent transport in space of neutral atoms or electrons among tunneling-coupled optical traps or quantum wells [A.D. Greentree et al., Phys. Rev. B 70, 235317 (2004); K. Eckert et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 023606 (2004)]. The direct visualization of CTAP wavepacket dynamics enabled by our simple optical system clearly shows that in the counterintuitive passage scheme light waves tunnel between the two outer wells without appreciable excitation of the middle well.