| Issue |
EPL
Volume 96, Number 1, October 2011
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 10004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/96/10004 | |
| Published online | 15 September 2011 | |
Converting Zitterbewegung oscillation to directed motion
1
Centre of Quantum Technologies and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore
2
Department of Physics and Centre for Computational Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore Singapore 117542, Republic of Singapore
3
NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering - Singapore 117597, Republic of Singapore
4
Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University - Singapore 639798, Republic of Singapore
Received:
28
May
2011
Accepted:
10
August
2011
Zitterbewegung (ZB) oscillation, namely, the jittering center-of-mass motion predicted by free-space Dirac (or Dirac-like) equations, has been studied in several different contexts. It is shown here that ZB can be converted to directed center-of-mass motion by a modulation of the Dirac-like equation, if the modulation is on resonance with the ZB frequency. Tailored modulation may also stop, re-launch or even reverse the directed motion of a wavepacket with negligible distortion. The predictions may be examined by current ZB experiments using trapped-ion systems.
PACS: 03.75.-b – Matter waves / 32.80.Qk – Coherent control of atomic interactions with photons / 71.70.Ej – Spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman and Stark splitting, Jahn-Teller effect
© EPLA, 2011
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.