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arXiv:2304.09740 · Physical Review A

Intensity effects of light coupling to one- or two-atom arrays of infinite extent

F. Robicheaux, Deepak A. Suresh

Published Jul 26, 2023• 11 citations
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Abstract

We theoretically and computationally investigate the behavior of infinite atom arrays when illuminated by nearly resonant light. We use higher-order mean-field equations to investigate the coherent reflection and transmission and incoherent scattering of photons from a single array and from a pair of arrays as a function of detuning for different values of the Rabi frequency. For the single array case, we show how increasing the light intensity changes the probabilities for these different processes. For example, the incoherent scattering probability initially increases with light intensity before decreasing at higher values. For a pair of parallel arrays at near resonant separation, the effects from increasing light intensity can become apparent with incredibly low-intensity light. In addition, we derive the higher-order mean-field equations for these infinite arrays, giving a representation that can be evaluated with a finite number of equations.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.013711

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We theoretically and computationally investigate the behavior of infinite atom arrays when illuminated by nearly resonant light. We use higher-order mean-field equations to investigate the coherent reflection and transmission and incoherent scattering of photons from a single array and from a pair of arrays as a function of detuning for different values of the Rabi frequency. For the single array case, we show how increasing the light intensity changes the probabilities for these different processes. For example, the incoherent scattering probability initially increases with light intensity before decreasing at higher values. For a pair of parallel arrays at near resonant separation, the effects from increasing light intensity can become apparent with incredibly low-intensity light. In addition, we derive the higher-order mean-field equations for these infinite arrays, giving a representation that can be evaluated with a finite number of equations.
Results from higher order mean-field calculations of light interacting with atom arrays are presented for calculations of one- and two-time expectation values. The atoms are approximated as two levels and are fixed in space. Calculations were performed for mean-field approximations that include the expectation value of one operator (mean field), two operators (mean field 2), and three operators (mean field 3). For the one-time expectation values, we examined three different situations to understand the convergence with increasing order of mean field and some limitations of higher order mean-field approximations. As a representation of a two-time expectation value, we calculated the ${g}^{(2)}(\ensuremath{\tau})$ for a line of atoms illuminated by a perpendicular plane wave at several emission angles and two different intensities. For many cases, the mean field 2 will be sufficiently accurate to quantitatively predict the response of the atoms as measured by one-time expectation values. However, the mean-field-3 approximation will often be needed for two-time expectation values.
In the study of optical properties of large atomic systems, a weak laser driving is often assumed to simplify the system dynamics by linearly coupled equations. Here we investigate the light-scattering properties of atomic ensembles beyond weak-field excitation through the cumulant expansion method. By progressively incorporating higher-order correlations into the steady-state equations, an enhanced accuracy can be achieved in comparison to the exact solutions obtained by solving a full density matrix. Our analysis reveals that, in the regime of weak dipole-dipole interaction, the first-order expansion yields satisfactory predictions for optical depth, while denser atomic configurations necessitate consideration of higher-order correlations. As the intensity of incident light increases, atom saturation effects become noticeable, giving rise to significant changes in light transparency, energy shift, and decay rate. This saturation phenomenon extends to subradiant atom arrays even under weak driving conditions, leading to substantial deviations from the linear model. Our findings demonstrate that the mean-field model is a good extension to linear models as it balances both accuracy and computational complexity. However, the crucial role of higher-order cumulants in large and dense atom systems remains unclear, since it is challenging theoretically owing to the exponentially increasing Hilbert space in such light-matter interacting systems.
The dynamical behavior of an atom interacting with a coherent field and a chaotic field is studied. Monte Carlo methods are used to integrate the equations describing the dipole moment, population inversion, and two-time correlation functions. The chaotic field can have a finite correlation time. Numerical results for a wide range of the parameters are given. The results depend sensitively on the ratio of the Rabi frequency and the bandwidth of the chaotic field. It is shown how an intense coherent field can suppress the effects of incoherence. The intensity of fluorescence as a function of detuning exhibits narrowing as the strength of the coherent field increases.
We suggest that the statistical properties of the scattered radiation in resonance-fluorescence experiments may be affected significantly by the existence of atomic correlations. The scattered light spectrum from two- and three-atom collective systems has been calculated and compared with the one-atom spectrum. The differences are quite significant for weak fields, but become less pronounced as the intensity of the driving field is increased. In addition, we have calculated the scattered intensity correlation function for collectively interacting systems, and found that its behavior is very different from that of the single-atom intensity correlation function, both for weak and strong incident fields. The implications of our findings for the observation of photon antibunching are also discussed.
We study theoretically the scattering of light by an ensemble of N resonant atoms in a subwavelength volume. We consider the low intensity regime so that each atom responds linearly to the field. While N noninteracting atoms would scatter N^{2} more than a single atom, we find that N interacting atoms scatter less than a single atom near resonance. In addition, the scattered power presents strong fluctuations, either from one realization to another or when varying the excitation frequency. We analyze this counterintuitive behavior in terms of collective modes resulting from the light-induced dipole-dipole interactions. We find that for small samples and sufficiently large atom number, their properties are governed only by their volume.
The authors present a weak light field, scattering theoretical description of the intensity autocorrelation function for the scattered light from a many-atom (molecule) system. The theory considers both resonant and near-resonant scattering for atoms with many sublevels in both the ground and electronically excited states, and it incorporates the effects of the finite coherence time of the incident radiation. The theory is derived using incident two-photon wave packets with spatial dispersion among the target atoms. Purely anti-bunching contributions arise from single-atom-two-photon scattering and from successive two-atom-two-photon scattering events. However, there are interleaved two-atom-two-photon scattering processes which provide purely bunching contributions since both atoms may be scattering at the same time. Path length differences in the successive two-atom scatterings can also induce some bunching character to the correlation function. The dependence of the risetime and decay of the intensity correlation function upon the atomic excited state lifetimes and the coherence time of the incident light emphasises the correlation between photons which have been coherently and/or incoherently scattered.