Four-Wave Mixing With Multiple Spin States

Published

February 1, 2000

Author(s)

J P. Burke, Carl J. Williams, Paul S. Julienne, Y B. Band, M Trippenbach

Abstract

Four-wave mixing is a common process in nonlinear optics wherein the nonlinear interaction between light and matter allows three light waves to interact or mix and produce a fourth wave with a different central wavevector (and/or frequency). The realization of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in dilute gases of alkali atoms has created an entirely new field of nonlinear atom optics. In a BEC, the nonlinear interaction is a result of atomic interactions whose strength is characterized by the two-body scattering length. Four-wave mixing of matter waves was first demonstrated in experiments conducted here at NIST. In these first experiments, the internal hyperfine spin states of the four BEC wavepackets were identical. In this work, we explore the consequences of different hyperfine spin states of the BEC wavepackets on the four-wave mixing process. We show that the three or four spin state case is phenomenologically different from the one or two spin state case and in particular, the nonlinear coupling strength of the former depends on differences in scattering lengths greatly reducing the population of the fourth wave. Three-dimensional numerical examples are presented.

Proceedings Title

Sigma Xi Post Doctoral Poster Presentations, 2000

Conference Dates

February 17-18, 2000

Conference Title

Sigma Xi Web Page

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

Bose-Einstein condensation, four-wave mixing, nonlinear optics, spin states

Citation

Burke, J. , Williams, C. , Julienne, P. , Band, Y. and Trippenbach, M. (2000), Four-Wave Mixing With Multiple Spin States, Sigma Xi Post Doctoral Poster Presentations, 2000 (Accessed May 15, 2026)

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