Acceleration, deceleration, and separation of molecular ensembles in optical lattices

Mikhail N. Shneider; P. F. Barker

doi:10.1117/12.548827

20 September 2004 Acceleration, deceleration, and separation of molecular ensembles in optical lattices

Mikhail N. Shneider, P. F. Barker

Proceedings Volume 5448, High-Power Laser Ablation V; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.548827
Event: High-Power Laser Ablation, 2004, Taos, New Mexico, United States

Abstract

Analysis of the trapped and untrapped motion of particles, combined with direct numerical simulation of the 1D non-stationary Boltzmann equation, demonstrates that atoms and molecules initially at room temperature can be accelerated to velocities in the 10 to 100 km/s range over distances of 100's microns using an optical lattice. The quantity, final velocity, and velocity/energy spread of the accelerated distribution controlled by tailoring the fluence, duration and frequency chirp of the laser beam that make the lattice, indicating the potential for a compact, versatile, and configurable hyper-thermal accelerator/decelerator. Using similar lattice potentials, differential transport of atomic and molecular species with different polarizability/mass ratios leads towards the possibility of gas mixture separation in short pulses or in hollow fibers. A bulk drift can be induced in a gas by the lattice forces, even when the mean kinetic energy is much greater that the maximum dipole potential of the optical field. In this process the transfer of energy from the slowly traveling optical lattice to the gas is analogous to Landau damping of a plasma wave by charged particles.

Citation Download Citation

Mikhail N. Shneider and P. F. Barker "Acceleration, deceleration, and separation of molecular ensembles in optical lattices", Proc. SPIE 5448, High-Power Laser Ablation V, (20 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.548827

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