https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070002
Mechanical bistability in an optical lattice
Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel,
Unité de recherche de l'École Normale Supérieure et de l'Université Pierre et Marie
Curie, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Received:
23
May
2000
Revised:
17
August
2000
Published online: 15 December 2000
A probed optical lattice is modelled as a driven anharmonic oscillator with noise. For specific values of the probe intensity and detuning, atoms are forced in bistable solutions. The friction and fluctuations that arise from laser cooling, determine the equilibrium between these two modes of vibration. The distribution determines the absorption spectrum and the transient emission spectrum that is emitted by the optical lattice after the probe has been switched off.
PACS: 32.80.Lg – Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions / 42.50.Md – Optical transient phenomena: quantum beats, photon echo, free-induction decay, dephasings and revivals, optical nutation, and self-induced transparency / 42.65.Pc – Optical bistability, multistability, and switching
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
