Optical Bloch oscillation and Zener tunneling in an atomic system

Abstract

Atomic media are important in optics research since they can be conveniently manipulated and controlled due to easy selection of atomic levels, laser fields, and the active adjustment of many system parameters. In this paper, we investigate optical Bloch oscillation, Zener tunneling, and Bloch–Zener oscillation in atomic media both theoretically and numerically. We use two coupling fields to prepare the dynamical optical lattice through interference. To induce a transverse force, we make the frequency difference between the two coupling fields increase linearly along the longitudinal coordinate. These phenomena have potential application for beam splitters and optical interconnects, and are helpful for investigating quantum analogies.