Spin-orbit coupling mediated photon-like resonance for a single atom trapped in a symmetric double well

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how spin-orbit coupling and photon-assisted tunneling can be used to control resonance transitions, tunneling, and spin flipping in a single atom trapped in a symmetric double well, with analytical and numerical agreement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method combining SOC and PAT to precisely manipulate atomic states and transitions in a double-well trap, including resonance suppression and spin flipping.

Findings

Photon-like resonance induces Rabi oscillations and reduces tunneling.

Analytical four-level model matches numerical results.

SOC mediates transitions from multiphoton to fundamental resonance.

Abstract

We employ a method involving coherent periodic modulation of Raman laser intensity to induce resonance transitions between energy levels of a spin-orbit coupled atom in a symmetric double-well trap. By integrating photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) technique with spin-orbit coupling (SOC), we achieve resonance transitions between the predefined energy levels of the atom, thereby enabling further precise control of the atom's dynamics. We observe that such photon-like resonance can induce a transition from a localized state to atomic Rabi oscillation between two wells, or effectively reduce tunneling as manifested by a quantum beating phenomenon. Moreover, such resonance transitions have the potential to induce spin flipping in a spin-orbit coupled atom. Additionally, the SOC-mediated transition from multiphoton resonance to fundamental resonance and the SOC-induced resonance suppression are also discovered. In these cases, the analytical results of the effective coupling coefficients of the resonance transition derived from a four-level model can account for the entire dynamics, demonstrating surprisingly good agreement with the numerically exact results based on the realistic continuous model.