VOLUME 72, NUMBER l PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 3 JANUARY 1994

Atomic Soliton in a Traveling Wave Laser Beam

Weiping Zhang, 1 D. F. Walls, 2 and B. C. Sanders 1
1
School of Mathematics, Physics, Computing and Electronics, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia
2
Physics Department, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
(Received 3 September 1993)
A vector quantum field theory is employed to study the propagation of an ultracold atomic wave pack-
et in a traveling wave laser beam with a Gaussian intensity profile. The collective dipole-dipole correla-
tion induced by photon exchanges between atoms produces a "Kerr-type" nonlinearity of atomic waves.
We show that such an atomic nonlinearity could result in an atomic soliton under appropriate conditions.
PACS numbers: 42.50.Vk, 32.80.-t

Recently great progress in laser cooling and trapping of
neutral atoms has resulted in a rapid development in the
field of atom optics. One motivation of cooling atoms is
t0
achieve a long thermal de Broglie wavelength k^
sss
-j27th2/mkBT so that the wave aspect of atoms is im-
portant. Another goal of cooling and trapping atoms is to
create an ideal ultracold atomic source at extremely low
temperatures together with sufficiently high density so
that some macroscopic quantum effects can be observed.
Experiments toward colder and denser neutral atomic
vapors in traps have made rapid progress in the past few
years [1-6]. With the combination of optical cooling and
magnetic traps, experimentalists can now produce atomic
samples with densities approaching 10 n to 10 ,2 /cm 3 at
temperatures lower than 1 mK [1,5]. Such atomic sam-
ples have stimulated great interest in studying some novel
effects such as ultracold atomic collisions [2-6] and the
long-range interatomic correlation between ultracold
atoms [7,8].
In this Letter, we propose a scheme where an atomic
wave packet from an ultracold atomic source is loaded
into a traveling wave laser beam with a Gaussian intensi-
ty profile. A long-range interatomic correlation due to
photon exchanges between ultracold atoms in the laser
beam produces an atomic nonlinearity which can be ex-
ploited to generate an atomic soliton in the laser beam.
The principle of the generation of an atomic soliton in a
laser beam can be understood from Fig. 1.
The ultracold atomic source is assumed to be composed
of identical Bose atoms. A quantum field theory [7,8] is
employed to describe the propagation of the ultracold
atomic wave packet in the laser beam. We assume that a
linearly polarized laser with frequency COL and wave vec-
tor kL is used to excite Jg—• Jg+ 1 transitions of the ul-
tracold atoms with transition frequency coa. In this case,
the ultracold atoms can be treated as a vector quantum
field with two components y/\ and ^2 corresponding to the
internal ground state and excited state of the atoms, re-
spectively. The interaction of the atomic quantum field
with the laser beam of complex amplitude E ( ± ) can be
described by the nonlinear stochastic Schrodinger equa-
tions [8]

h2\2
ih - / i « E ^ V 2 + / f t J r f V L ( r - r > 2 + ( r ' / ) ^ i ( r ' f ) ^ ( r , r ) + Gi(r,f), (la)
dt 2m
ft2V2
ih - M A + / y / 2 V 2 - / i - E ( + V i - / f t JrfVL(r-r')*Vfi f (r',/)^ 2 (r , ,/)yi(r,/)-l-C2(r f r), (lb)
dt 2m ¥2
where yxm4\fi\2Q)l/3hc3 is the spontaneous emission rate of a single atom and A^&t —<oa the detuning of the laser fre-
quency from the atomic transition frequency. The noise terms G\ and Gi describe the vacuum fluctuations [8] and the
nonlinear coefficient is

L(r-rO = y [ K ( r - r O / 2 - / ^ ( r - ^ (2)

where ^-"Iki.- (r —r')| and 0 is the angle between the di- amplitude £ ( ± ) of the quantized laser field in Eqs. (1)
pole moment p. and the relative coordinate r —r'. The satisfies the quantum propagation equation [9]
real part yKit — r') of the coefficient L(T-T') accounts 1 £2c(±) A2p(±)
for the loss of atoms in the laser beam due to collisions
induced by many-atom spontaneous emission. The imagi- c2 Bt2 ^ dt2 '
( ( +
nary part —yW<s — T') corresponds to the dipole-dipole where P + >-[P ">] -p¥tir9t)¥2(r,t)e ~ ' ^ ' is the
interaction energy which is the result of photon ex- positive frequency part of the polarization operator of the
changes between atoms during their internal transitions. atomic quantum field in the interaction picture.
According to quantum electrodynamics, the complex In Eq. (1), there are several important terms which

60 0031 -9007/93/72( 1 )/60(4)$06.00

© 1993 The American Physical Society
VOLUME 72, NUMBER 1 P H Y S I C A L REVIEW LETTERS 3 JANUARY 1994

.ultracold atomic result in the diffusion of the center of mass momentum of

the atom. The dissipation and diffusion cause a loss of
atoms from the laser beam and destroy the coherence of
the atomic wave. To reduce the effects of these terms, we
consider a monochromatic laser beam with frequency far
from the atomic resonance. Both the laser beam and the
atomic wave packet propagate along the z axis. The
atomic wave packet is assumed to have a center wave vec-
tor #0 and a total kinetic energy Ea. Including the pho-
ton recoil effect, we make the transformations
guided atomic iKoz-iEat/h
soliton ^i(r,/) =0i(r,/)e
y/2(T,t)s=<l>2(Tj)ei(KQ+kLh-iEat/h (4)
E<+)«lj(+V**.z-"»i.'
FIG. 1. The schematic diagram for atomic solitons guided by
a laser beam. Substituting Eqs. (4) into Eqs. (1) and (3), we can obtain
the equations of motion for the atomic field envelopes
affect the propagation of the ultracold atomic wave pack- 0i(r,/), fcirj) and the laser field envelope EJ"*"*. In the
et in a laser beam. There is the linear dissipation propor- region far from atomic resonance, the excited-state com-
tional to y and the nonlinear dissipation proportional to ponent <t>i(*,t) of the atomic field can be adiabatically
YK(T-T') induced by spontaneous emission. The vacu- eliminated from Eqs. (1) [8], Then we have the non-
um fluctuations described by the operators Gj (y = 1,2) linear Schrodinger equation for the ground-state atomic
wave packet
d0i 90i +
ih - 4 ? Tl * . - ^ 2 ^P I W.<V e <ry>,r<r'>*,<r'>,,<.>, (5a)
2m 2m dz 48
with the nonlinear interatomic correlation coefficient
2 y
Q( r , r 0 - ^ / l ^ ^ ^ r X {2^(r~r^)cos[A: L (z-zO] ~ / ^ ( r - r ' ) s i n [ ^ ( z - z ) ] } , (5b)
48
where <5=A — &LI> — kLVr/2 is the effective detuning in- r
eluding the corrections of Doppler frequency shift and where Ho is the peak Rabi frequency determined by the
photon recoil effect, vg = h Ko/m is the group velocity of initial peak laser intensity and the transverse profile of
the atomic wave packet, and vr^hkjm is the photon the laser beam F(x,y). It is evident that the correction
recoil velocity. In the derivation of Eqs. (5), the sharp due to photon absorption leads to a nonlinear interaction
property of the function L ( r ~ r') in the region of the between the atoms. Such an atomic nonlinearity is due to
atomic absorption wavelength has been used and the Rabi the exchange of laser photons between the atoms during
frequency n ( + ) ( r ) ~ [ n ( - } ( r ) ] + - 2 # r E, (+) M has been the absorption process. By substituting the corrected
considered a slowly varying function in the region. Rabi frequency (7) into Eqs. (5a) and (5b), we find that
We further assume that the transverse width of the ul- the atomic nonlinearity induced by absorption of photons
tracold atomic wave packet is much narrower than the is the order of 8~3. For an atomic wave packet with a
width of the traveling wave laser beam so that the varia- finite longitudinal extension, this may be compared to the
tion of transverse spatial structure of the laser beam due nonlinearity induced by spontaneous emission shown in
to photon absorption by atoms can be ignored. Thus the Eq. (5b), which is the order of Q~~8~2. Therefore in the
usual slowly varying envelope approximation gives the region far from atomic resonance, the absorption-induced
propagation equation for the photons atomic nonlinearity can be ignored.
Because of the sharp peak of the functions W(r — r')
^ ~ - - - ( f +i8ly)otf (r)0,(r)n(+), (6) and K(T — r') in the region of the atomic absorption
az wavelength, the nonlinear correlation coefficient Q(x,r')
where cr!=ay2o'peak/(^2+y2/4) is the absorption cross sec- only produces an effect on ultracold atomic ensembles
tion of atoms with <Tpedk=s2\fi\2coL/hYCEQ its peak value. where the interatomic correlation in the region close to
For a large detuning, the solution of Eq. (6) can be ap- the atomic absorption wavelength is expected to be im-
proximated as portant. This case is similar to that in a superfluid [10].
(+) 2 2 + In this case, the atomic quantum field 0j can be removed
|n (r)| -[aoFU^)] [l-aJ^corfz>1 (r)0,(r)], from within the integral of Eq. (5a) to produce the ex-
(7) pression
61
V O L U M E 72, N U M B E R l PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 3 JANUARY 1994

ih
30i 30i h2n h2 d2fa + K(r)
2
2yvc
0i+(r)0i(r) 0i(r) (8)
2m 2m dz
where K(r) sshlilof(xJy)]2/4S is the single-atom gra- r-
dient potential induced by the laser beam and Vc atom, we can realize a single transverse mode propaga-
= — $d2TW(t)co$(kLz) determines the interaction vol- tion. This case is similar to those in fiber optics where
ume of the atoms. The negative sign accounts for an at- one can realize a single transverse mode for a guided light
tractive interaction between the atoms due to the long- wave by choosing an appropriate core diameter for a
range dipole-dipole correlation induced by photon ex- fiber. For a bounded fundamental mode, we have the fol-
changes due to spontaneous emission. We consider a lowing propagation equation for the longitudinal envelope
Gaussian transverse profile with F(x,y) = e x p [ — (x2 0(z,r) of the atomic wave packet:
+y2)/2W2]. Hence the single-atom potential V(r) is in-
dependent of the coordinate z and we can seek an approx- d± 30 = ft2 3 2 0
ih
imately transverse-longitudinal separated solution of Eq. dt lg
dz 2m dz2
-iEjtlh
(8) with the form <j>\(T)s=£u(x,y)(j>(zj)e Since
-hX(t>*(z,t)<l>(z,t)<t>(z,t) , (10)
the transverse width of the atomic wave packet is much
narrower than that of the laser beam, the exponential where
transverse decay of laser intensity is expanded to first or-
der which produces the following wave equation for the X = (YSl$Vc/252)f dx f dy\uoo(x,y)\4
transverse motion of the atomic wave packet:
xexp[- (x2+y2)lWl]
\%u(x,y) + kfalfr(x,y)u(xyy)=0, (9)
is the collision coefficient of the atoms which is analogous
where to the Kerr-type nonlinear susceptibility in nonlinear op-
Ml tics.
mill
ntf(x,y): 1- Making the transformations £ = z — vgt and / = / , we
2ShkJ wl can write an effective Hamiltonian for the atomic field
is the effective refractive index for the atomic wave. envelope
Equation (9) has an identical form to the Helmholtz
h2 80+ 30
equation describing the propagation of a light wave in a
parabolic dielectric waveguide. For the laser frequency
Ha-fl dS 2m 3 £ 6 ?
detuned below the atomic resonance, Eq. (9) presents
bounded transverse Hermite-Gaussian eigenmodes, (11)
-jhX+ + (04> + (04>(04>(0
+m ,/2
, x (2* Ai!m!)-
UnmyX.y)^- In terms of the Hamiltonian (11), the time evolution of
WayfH
the ultracold atomic wave packet composed of many Bose
x2 + y2 X atoms is determined by the Schrodinger equation
cexp Hn Hm -JL.
2W2 a|Q(f)>
ih- = // e f f |0(f)> (12)
with Wa=(2h\8\wl/mn§) m
the transverse width of dt
fundamental mode uoo(x,y) which is determined by the for |0(/)> the quantum state of the ultracold atomic wave
laser parameters and the mass of the atom. By choosing packet. For Bose atoms, in general, the quantum state
the appropriate parameters for the laser beam and the can be expanded as l o G ) ) " * ! ^ , , ! {/,,(*)> with the di-
atom state vector defined as

Un(t))=-~rfd{}fdt2 ' ' ' fdSn<Pn(Zu& • . . ,C*;')0 + ( C l ) 0 + (C2) ' ' " 0 + ( £ , > | O > , (13)

where |0> is the vacuum state and <£„(CbC2, . . . ,£„;/) the

tt-atom wave function. The complex coefficient an deter- Then from Eqs. (11)-(13), we obtain the nonlinear
mines the probability Pn = | a„ | 2 of their being n atoms in Schrodinger equations for the Hartree wave functions
the atomic wave packets. For large atom number n,
the rt-atom wave functions ^n(Ci,C2» • •• ,£*,') can be 83>„ h 2 a2<*>*
ih -hx(n-\)\®n\2<Pn. (14)
solved in the Hartree approximation <pn(£\,&, • • • ,£>n',t) 3/ 2m 3f 2
~Ylj-\&n(£j*t)9 which is exact to leading order in n
[11]. Therefore for an ultracold atomic wave packet with It is well known that Eq. (14) has a family of soliton
high density, the Hartree approximation is applicable. solutions of the form [12]

62
VOLUME 72, NUMBER 1 P H Y S I C A L REVIEW
Ow = A„ sech ^ ^ ( C - A / ) Gxp[iz(n-l)Afc/2-i(mB2/2hh
with soliton amplitude A„ — y/mxin — \)/4h. In terms of (15), one can define a density function for the atomic wave
packet [13]
p(x,j,C;r)=<oa)|0 + (f,r)0(C,/)|o(r))Uoo(x,>;)|:
mx exp x2+y:
X / V i ( / i - l ) s e c h 2 ^(n-\HZ-Bnt)
AnhWj
Equation (16) determines the spatial density distribu-
tion of an atomic wave packet with longitudinal soliton
envelope in a Gaussian laser beam. The generation of
such an atomic soliton requires a strong interatomic
correlation through photon exchanges between the atoms.
In order to achieve the necessary long-range interatomic
correlation, the mean interatomic distance given by
p~ 1 / 3 , for p the atomic density of the initially loaded
atomic wave packet, must be small compared to the
atomic absorption wavelength X^ =2n/kL. The high den-
sity assumption is necessary to obtain a sharp peak in the
nonlinear coefficient L(r — r') of Eq. (2) and this assump-
tion was incorporated to derive Eq. (8). If we consider a
sodium beam with optical transition 3Si/2—* 3P3/2 corre-
sponding to XL —589 nm, the atomic density must exceed
p—Xr 3 = s 5x 10 ,2 /cm 3 for the generation of an atomic
soliton in the laser beam. With current techniques in
laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms, a density of
roughly 10 l2 /cm 3 for sodium atoms is achievable [1].
In summary, the long-range photon-exchange correla-
tion between atoms can produce an atomic nonlinearity in
the ultracold region for the propagation of an ultracold
atomic wave packet in a traveling wave Gaussian laser
beam. Consequently, a Gaussian laser beam acts as a
nonlinear atomic waveguide which allows soliton propa-
gation of an atomic wave under appropriate conditions.
We thank J. D. Cresser and Max Lederer for helpful
discussions. W.Z. thanks the Australian Research Coun-
cil for the support of the Australian Research Fellow.
This work was supported by a Macquarie University
LETTERS 3 JANUARY 1994
+ imBn&h] (15)
(16)
Research Grant and by the New Zealand Foundation of
Research Science and Technology, the New Zealand Lot-
teries Grants Board, and the University of Auckland
Research Committee.
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P. Meystre et al.
63
 ultracold atomic

laser

guided atomic
soliton

FIG. 1. The schematic diagram for atomic solitons guided by

a laser beam.