Related papers: Shifting the boundaries: pulse-shape effects in th…
We report an asymmetric behavior of optical pulses during their propagation through a time-varying linear optical medium. The refractive index of the medium is considered to be varying with time and complex such that a sufficient amount of…
In two dimensions, a system of self-gravitating particles collapses and forms a singularity in finite time below a critical temperature $T_c$. We investigate experimentally a quasi two-dimensional cloud of cold neutral atoms in interaction…
We report the experimental realization of a new kind of optical lattice for ultra-cold atoms where arbitrarily large separation between the sites can be achieved without renouncing to the stability of ordinary lattices. Two collinear…
We treat a model based upon nonlinear optics for the semiclassical gravitational effects of quantum fields upon light propagation. Our model uses a nonlinear material with a nonzero third order polarizability. Here a probe light pulse…
We present efficient theoretical tools for describing the optical pumping of atoms by light propagating at arbitrary directions with respect to an external magnetic field, at buffer-gas pressures that are small enough for velocity-selective…
Plasmonic vortices (PV) excited by a highly focused radially polarized optical vortex (RPOV) beam on a metal surface are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The proposed method reveals a direct phase singularity and orbital…
We develop a unified scattering approach to dynamical Casimir problems which can be applied to both accelerating boundaries, as well as dispersive objects in relative motion. A general (trace) formula is derived for the radiation from…
Photons carrying non-zero orbital angular momentum (twisted photons) are well-known in optics. Recently, it was suggested to use Compton backscattering to boost optical twisted photons to high energies. Twisted electrons in the intermediate…
We have investigated non-dipole effects in the interaction of a hydrogen atom with elliptically polarized laser pulses of intensity 10$^{14}$ W/cm$^2$ with about 8 fs duration. The study was performed within the framework of a hybrid…
Recent experiments have shown the transfer of orbital angular momentum (OAM) from a non-resonant laser onto an exciton-polariton condensate, despite earlier views that the phase information of such a laser should be lost during the process…
We review the theoretical model and experimental realization of the atom optics $\delta-$kicked rotor (AOKR), a paradigm of classical and quantum chaos. We have performed a number of experiments with an all-optical Bose-Einstein condensate…
We provide a vivid demonstration of the mechanical effect of transverse spin momentum in an optical beam in free space. This component of the Poynting momentum was previously thought to be virtual, and unmeasurable. Here, its effect is…
We present recent results on the coherent control of an optical transition in a single rubidium atom, trapped in an optical tweezer. We excite the atom using resonant light pulses that are short (4 ns) compared with the lifetime of the…
Atoms trapped in the evanescent field around a nanofiber experience strong coupling to the light guided in the fiber mode. However, due to the intrinsically strong positional dependence of the coupling, thermal motion of the ensemble limits…
Typically discussed in the context of optics, caustics are envelopes of classical trajectories (rays) where the density of states diverges, resulting in pronounced observable features such as bright points, curves, and extended networks of…
A novel regime of atom-cavity physics is explored, arising when large atom samples dispersively interact with high-finesse optical cavities. A stable far detuned optical lattice of several million rubidium atoms is formed inside an optical…
Ultracold bosonic atoms are confined by an optical lattice inside an optical resonator and interact with a cavity mode, whose wave length is incommensurate with the spatial periodicity of the confining potential. We predict that the…
Twisted light beams, or optical vortices, have been used to drive the circular motion of microscopic particles in optical tweezers and have been shown to generate vortices in quantum gases. Recent studies have established that electric…
We derive an exact and analytical form for the cold-atom momentum distribution after a large number of one-dimensional (1D) Raman cooling cycles has been applied. Our result shows that one can select pulse profiles and lengths rather freely…
We demonstrate lasing into counter-propagating modes of a ring cavity using a gas of cold atoms as a gain medium. The laser operates under the usual conditions of magneto-optical trapping with no additional fields. We characterize the…