Dimensional Crossover in Bragg Scattering from an Optical Lattice

Abstract

We study Bragg scattering at 1D optical lattices. Cold atoms are confined by the optical dipole force at the antinodes of a standing wave generated inside a laser-driven high-finesse cavity. The atoms arrange themselves into a chain of pancake-shaped layers located at the antinodes of the standing wave. Laser light incident on this chain is partially Bragg-reflected. We observe an angular dependence of this Bragg reflection which is different to what is known from crystalline solids. In solids the scattering layers can be taken to be infinitely spread (3D limit). This is not generally true for an optical lattice consistent of a 1D linear chain of point-like scattering sites. By an explicit structure factor calculation we derive a generalized Bragg condition, which is valid in the intermediate regime. This enables us to determine the aspect ratio of the atomic lattice from the angular dependance of the Bragg scattered light.

4 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms
• Cold atoms in a high-Q ring-cavity
• Collective excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a 1D optical lattice
• Optical Lattice in a High Finesse Ring Resonator
• Phase-sensitive detection of Bragg scattering at 1D optical lattices

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Photonic Band Gaps in One-Dimensionally Ordered Cold Atomic Vapors
• Photonic properties of one-dimensionally-ordered cold atomic vapors under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency
• Multiple Reflections and Diffuse Scattering in Bragg Scattering at Optical Lattices
• Light scattering by ultracold atoms in an optical lattice
• Photonic spectrum of bichromatic optical lattices
• Microscopic theory of photonic band gaps in optical lattices
• Homodyne detection of matter-wave fields (shortened)
• Entanglement detection by Bragg scattering