  We consider a method of sub-wavelength superlocalization and patterning of
atomic matter waves via a two dimensional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage
(2D STIRAP) process. An atom initially prepared in its ground level interacts
with a doughnut-shaped optical vortex pump beam and a traveling wave Stokes
laser beam with a constant (top-hat) intensity profile in space. The beams are
sent in a counter-intuitive temporal sequence, in which the Stokes pulse
precedes the pump pulse. The atoms interacting with both the traveling wave and
the vortex beam are transferred to a final state through the 2D STIRAP, while
those located at the core of the vortex beam remain in the initial state,
creating a super-narrow nanometer scale atomic spot in the spatial distribution
of ground state atoms. By numerical simulations we show that the 2D STIRAP
approach outperforms the established method of coherent population trapping,
yielding much stronger confinement of atomic excitation. Numerical simulations
of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation show that using such a method one can create
2D bright and dark solitonic structures in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
(BECs). The method allows one to circumvent the restriction set by the
diffraction limit inherent to conventional methods for formation of localized
solitons, with a full control over the position and size of nanometer
resolution defects.
