Coherent Control of the External Degrees of Freedom of Atoms and Defects in Optical Microtraps and Waveguides

We extend the recently developed three-level atom optics (TLAO) techniques, e.g., the spatial analogue of Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage, to (i) the coherent control of defects, e.g., empty sites, in optical lattices and microtraps; and (ii) to the robust and efficient transport of atoms between optical waveguides.