Atom movement in momentum dependent light dipole lattices

Abstract

Atom movement in light-induced dipole lattices is investigated in this paper. Momentum-dependence of the dipole potential is particularly considered. Momentum squeezed variance and position amplified variance feature are revealed, from which we predict that a single particle state of boson atoms confined in optical lattice will approach to a momentum squeezed line state. The results show also that under red detune, the atom movement experiences three phases. In the first phase, the atom is slowed down gradually in a long period with atom momentum damply oscillating. In the second phase, atom momentum will quickly reduce to hk(Ω/γ)2 with hk momentum of one photon, Ω Rabi frequency, and γ decay constant of atom wave function, as the momentum reduces to the momentum of one photon. Finally, atoms will be confined in the vicinity of wave nodes.