Tunable atom lithography scheme with high resolution in atomic system

Abstract We theoretically propose a scheme that utilizes the excited state of a Λ-type three-level atom system for atom lithography. A standing-wave coupling field and a probe field provide localized probability distribution of the excited atoms. Unlike the previous studies in atom localization, we focus on splitting the single-peak structure localized on the node of the standing-wave field to a double-peak structure. The shift distance of double-peak related to the parameters of external laser fields is investigated. The period of lithography pattern could reach λ /4, while the resolution of lithography is promising to be smaller than 0.02 λ by adjusting system parameters. This scheme can be extended to form a two-dimensional pattern for lithography.