Hannover 2016 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 66: Quantum Effects: QED III
Q 66.6: Talk
Friday, March 4, 2016, 12:30–12:45, f442
Nanofriction and cooling in cavity QED — •Thomas Fogarty1, Haggai Landa2, Cecilia Cormick3, and Giovanna Morigi1 — 1Theoretische Physik, Universitat des Saarlandes, Saarbrucken, Germany — 2LPTMS, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Universite Paris-Saclay, France — 3IFEG, CONICET and Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Ciudad Universitaria, Cordoba, Argentina
I will describe the process of self-organisation of ions in an optical cavity due to the interplay between the Coulomb forces of the ions and the optical forces from the cavity. This can be described in the language of the well known Frenkel-Kontorova model whereby tuning the depth of the cavity lattice one can realise structural transitions. As the depth of this lattice is increased the ions undergo a transition, from a sliding frictionless phase to a pinned phase with increasing static friction, once the strength of the lattice exceeds a critical point. As a consequence of the ion-cavity coupling there is an associated back-action of the ions on the cavity field which establishes a long range interaction between the ions changing the nature of the transition. The cavity field can also act as a tunable reservoir which may cool the ion chain through the coupling of the cavity and ion fluctuations. We show how this can be tuned by changing the cavity detuning and the structural phase of the crystal to achieve sub-Doppler cooling of the chain. Observation of these effects is proposed by utilising the spectrum of the cavity output field.