Bloch-Zener Oscillations of a Cold Atom in an Optical Cavity

Abstract

<p> A quantum particle moving in a periodic potential, with periodicity d, when acted by an external constant force F undergoes the dynamical phenomenon of Bloch-Zener oscillations (BZO). We investigate BZO of a neutral cold atom in an optical cavity pumped by a laser. We find that the single mode electromagnetic field of the optical cavity is affected by the atomic dynamics and propose the idea that a measurement of the electromagnetic field leaking out of the cavity will reflect the BZO frequency WB = Fd/h, and can be used for a precision measurement of F. The motivation for such a study comes from the fact that if the force F is gravity, then one can probe gravitational forces on sub-millimeter scales since the size of these systems are generally a few hundreds of microns. Such a study can be used to detect deviations from Newtonian gravity at short range proposed by some theories beyond the standard model of particle physics. </p>