Real-time control of the periodicity of a standing wave: an optical accordion

TL;DR

This paper presents an experimental method for real-time control of optical lattice periodicity, enabling dynamic adjustment from sub-micrometer to micrometer scales, which is crucial for manipulating ultracold atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique to continuously vary the periodicity of optical lattices in real-time, enhancing control over ultracold atom experiments.

Findings

Periodicities changed from 0.96 μm to 11.2 μm in one second

Center fringe moved less than 2.7 μm during the process

Method enables precise control for quantum tunneling and site manipulation

Abstract

We report an experimental method to create optical lattices with real-time control of their periodicity. We demonstrate a continuous change of the lattice periodicity from 0.96 $\mu$m to 11.2 $\mu$m in one second, while the center fringe only moves less than 2.7 $\mu$m during the whole process. This provides a powerful tool for controlling ultracold atoms in optical lattices, where small spacing is essential for quantum tunneling, and large spacing enables single-site manipulation and spatially resolved detection.