Excitation of atoms in an optical lattice driven by polychromatic amplitude modulation

TL;DR

This paper explores how multi-frequency amplitude modulation in optical lattices can coherently control atomic states, revealing interference effects and enabling the design of efficient large-momentum-transfer beam splitters.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using multi-frequency modulation to manipulate quantum states in optical lattices, including interference effects and practical beam splitter design.

Findings

Measured excitation spectra for different lattice depths.

Observed interference effects dependent on modulation phases.

Demonstrated a phase-shift-free large-momentum-transfer beam splitter.

Abstract

We investigate the mutiphoton process between different Bloch states in an amplitude modulated optical lattice. In the experiment, we perform the modulation with more than one frequency components, which includes a high degree of freedom and provides a flexible way to coherently control quantum states. Based on the study of single frequency modulation, we investigate the collaborative effect of different frequency components in two aspects. Through double frequency modulations, the spectrums of excitation rates for different lattice depths are measured. Moreover, interference between two separated excitation paths is shown, emphasizing the influence of modulation phases when two modulation frequencies are commensurate. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the double frequency modulation to design a large-momentum-transfer beam splitter. The beam splitter is easy in practice and would not introduce phase shift between two arms.