Optical Stern-Gerlach effect via a single traveling-wave light

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simplified model for the optical Stern-Gerlach effect using a single traveling-wave light, demonstrating spin-orbit coupling induced chiral motion and potential applications in atom interferometry.

Contribution

It presents a novel simplified theoretical model of the optical Stern-Gerlach effect with insights into coherent atom-light interactions and experimental conditions.

Findings

Spin-orbit coupling causes chiral motion in atom deflection.

Strong optical driving suppresses Doppler and back action effects.

Superposition of distant matter waves can be achieved.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a simplified model of optical Stern-Gerlach effect based on coherent coupling between clock transition of alkaline-earth single atoms and a traveling-wave light. It is demonstrated that spin-orbit coupling induced chiral motion in atom deflection appears under the strong atom-light interaction. The strong optical driving removes perturbation from the Doppler effect and back action effect to access the coherent system. In this process, superposition of distant matter waves connected to the arbitrary distribution of atom internal state could be predicted, which is important for the realization of atom interferometry and quantum state operation. The influence from atom relaxation and atom-atom interactions are discussed. Basic conditions of experimental design are given in the end of this work.