Spatial Adiabatic Passage of Massive Quantum Particles

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method for coherently transferring cold atoms between sublattices in an optical lattice using adiabatic manipulation, revealing new control techniques and observing quantum phenomena like Autler-Townes splitting.

Contribution

It introduces a spatial adiabatic passage technique for massive particles in optical lattices, utilizing dark states in a Lieb-type lattice for coherent control.

Findings

Successful transfer of atoms between sublattices without populating intermediate states

Observation of matter-wave Autler-Townes doublet

Identification of dark eigenstates forming a flat band

Abstract

By adiabatically manipulating tunneling amplitudes of cold atoms in a periodic potential with a multiple sublattice structure, we are able to coherently transfer atoms from a sublattice to another without populating the intermediate sublattice, which can be regarded as a spatial analogue of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. A key is the existence of dark eigenstates forming a flat band in a Lieb-type optical lattice. We also successfully observe a matter-wave analogue of Autler-Townes doublet using the same setup. This work shed light on a novel kind of coherent control of cold atoms in optical potentials.