Collective resonance fluorescence in small and dense atom clouds : Comparison between theory and experiment

Jenkins, S.D. and Ruostekoski, J. and Javanainen, J. and Jennewein, S. and Bourgain, R. and Pellegrino, J. and Sortais, Y.R.P. and Browaeys, A. (2016) Collective resonance fluorescence in small and dense atom clouds : Comparison between theory and experiment. Physical review a, 94 (2). pp. 1-15. ISSN 1050-2947

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Abstract

We study the emergence of a collective optical response of a cold and dense Rb87 atomic cloud to a near-resonant low-intensity light when the atom number is gradually increased. Experimental observations are compared with microscopic stochastic simulations of recurrent scattering processes between the atoms that incorporate the atomic multilevel structure and the optical measurement setup. We analyze the optical response of an inhomogeneously broadened gas and find that the experimental observations of the resonance line shifts and the total collected scattered light intensity in cold atom clouds substantially deviate from those of thermal atomic ensembles, indicating strong light-induced resonant dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms. At high densities, the simulations also predict a significantly slower decay of light-induced excitations in cold than in thermal atom clouds. The role of dipole-dipole interactions is discussed in terms of resonant coupling examples and the collective radiative excitation eigenmodes of the system.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Physical review a
Additional Information:
© 2016 American Physical Society Funded by EPSRC: Quantum Technology Hub for Sensors and Metrology (EP/M013294/1)
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3100/3107
Subjects:
?? atomic and molecular physics, and optics ??
ID Code:
123642
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
26 Feb 2018 15:12
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
31 Dec 2023 00:55