Beams made of twisted atoms: A theoretical analysis

We have analyzed Bessel beams of two-level atoms that are driven by a linearly polarized laser light. Based on the Schroedinger equation for two-level systems, we first determine the states of two-level atoms in a plane-wave field by taking into account propagation directions both of the atom and the field. For such laser-driven two-level atoms, we construct Bessel beams by going beyond the typical paraxial approximation. In particular, we show that the probability density of these atomic beams exhibits a non-trivial, Bessel-squared-type behavior. The profile of such twisted atoms is affected by atom and laser parameters, such as the nuclear charge, atom velocity, laser frequency, and propagation geometry of the atom and laser beams. Moreover, we spatially and temporally characterize the beam of hydrogen and selected (neutral) alkali-metal atoms that carry non-zero orbital angular momentum (OAM). The proposed spatiotemporal Bessel states (i) are able to describe twisted states of any two-level system which is driven by the radiation field and (ii) have potential applications in atomic and nuclear processes as well as in quantum communication.