State-selective Atomic Mirror Based On Spin- Orbit Coupling

Artificial spin-orbit coupling in neutral cold atom have been experimentally implemented and nowadays people begin to explore its possible application, including the atomic mirror. Based on the previous study, here we consider a matter wave packet of cold atom gas impinging upon a step potential created by the optical light field. By taking both the case of total internal reflection and partial reflection into account, the properties different from the previous studies are discovered. In the case of total internal reflection, we found that the polarization rate of the reflected atoms is sensitive to incident angle instead of the spin-orbit coupling strength and incident energy. While in the case of partial reflection, all these factors strongly affect the polarization rate. We carefully studied these properties and discussed its possible application.