Zitterbewegung with spin–orbit coupled ultracold atoms in a fluctuating optical lattice

Abstract

The dynamics of non-interacting ultracold atoms with artificial spin–orbit coupling is considered. Spin–orbit coupling is created using two moving optical lattices with orthogonal polarizations. Our main goal is to study influence of lattice noise on Rabi oscillations. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of the Zitterbewegung being trembling motion caused by Rabi transitions between states with different velocities. Phase and amplitude fluctuations of lattices are modelled by means of the two-dimensional stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, also known as harmonic noise. In the the noiseless case the problem is solved analytically in terms of the momentum representation. It is shown that lattice noise significantly extends duration of the Zitterbewegung as compared to the noiseless case. This effect originates from noise-induced decoherence of Rabi oscillations.