The scattering of slow atoms by light

Arthur Dogariu, Richard B. Miles

We demonstrate time delayed imaging with slow light using high positive dispersion of a passive atomic gas. This filter allows for imaging of Raman, Rayleigh, and Thomson scattering without the need of a spectrometer.

A. P. Kazantsev, G. A. Ryabenko, Gregory I. Surdutovich +1 more

Jian Liang, M. Katsuragawa, Fam Le Kien +1 more

Summary form only given. Recently, considerable attention has been drawn to extremely slow light obtained in the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. The reason is that slow light may lead to exceptionally large nonlinearities and, in particular, to efficient nonlinear processes at energies of a few photons per atomic cross section. Extremely low group velocities of light have been observed in resonant systems such as a Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold sodium atoms or hot rubidium vapors. Meanwhile, there is a large number of nonlinear optical techniques based on nonresonant interaction. Therefore, it is desirable to study the possibility of slow light in far-off-resonance media. In the present work, we demonstrate experimentally that far-off-resonance stimulated Raman scattering in solid hydrogen driven by a strong coupling field allows us to slow down the intensity-peak velocity of the Stokes and antiStokes fields.

Salim Balik, R. G. Olave, Charles I. Sukenik +4 more

A combined experimental and theoretical investigation of time- and alignment-dependent propagation of light in an ultracold atomic gas of atomic $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ is reported. Coherences among the scattering amplitudes for light scattering off excited hyperfine levels produce strong variations of the light polarization in the vicinity of atomic resonance. Measurements are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the multiple scattering process.