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Physical Review A

Accelerated superradiance and collective atomic recoil lasing with a two-frequency pump

Mary M. Cola, Luca Volpe, N. Piovella

Published Jan 15, 2009• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate that superradiance and collective atomic recoil lasing from cold atoms can be enhanced using a two-frequency pump with frequency difference twice the two-photon recoil frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}$. In the good-cavity regime the atoms behave as a three-recoil-level system, collectively scattering a single-frequency radiation mode. In the bad-cavity regime, the superradiant cascade through the different recoil momentum states is strongly accelerated. The emitted radiation shows a discrete spectrum whose harmonics are separated by $2{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}$ and generated by transitions between adjacent momentum levels.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.79.013613

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We demonstrate that superradiance and collective atomic recoil lasing from cold atoms can be enhanced using a two-frequency pump with frequency difference twice the two-photon recoil frequency \ensuremathωr{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}\ensuremathωr​. In the good-cavity regime the atoms behave as a three-recoil-level system, collectively scattering a single-frequency radiation mode. In the bad-cavity regime, the superradiant cascade through the different recoil momentum states is strongly accelerated. The emitted radiation shows a discrete spectrum whose harmonics are separated by 2\ensuremathωr2{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{r}2\ensuremathωr​ and generated by transitions between adjacent momentum levels.
Cold atoms in optical high‐Q cavities are an ideal model system for long‐range interacting particles. The position of two arbitrary atoms is, independent on their distance, coupled by the back‐scattering of photons within the cavity. This mutual coupling can lead to collective instability and self‐organization of a cloud of cold atoms interacting with the cavity fields. This phenomenon (CARL, i.e. Collective Atomic Recoil Lasing) has been discussed theoretically for years, but was observed only recently in our lab. The CARL‐effect is closely linked to superradiant Rayleigh scattering, which has been intensely studied with Bose‐Einstein condensates in free space. By adding a resonator the coherence time of the system, in which the instability occurs, can be strongly enhanced. This enables us to observe cavity‐enhanced superradiance with both Bose‐Einstein condensates and thermal clouds and allows us to close the discussion about the role of quantum statistics in superradiant scattering.
Subradiance, i.e., the cooperative inhibition of spontaneous emission by destructive interatomic interference, can be realized in a cold atomic sample confined in a ring cavity and lightened by a two-frequency laser. The atoms, scattering the photons of the two laser fields into the cavity mode, recoil and change their momentum. Under proper conditions the atomic initial momentum state and the first two momentum recoil states form a three-level degenerate cascade. A stationary subradiant state is obtained after the scattered photons have left the cavity, leaving the atoms in a coherent superposition of the three collective momentum states. Both a semiclassical description of the process and the quantum subradiant state with its Wigner function are given. Antibunching, quantum correlations, and entanglement between the atomic modes of the subradiant state are demonstrated.
We analyze the collective light scattering by cold atoms in free space of a pump-laser beam possessing orbital angular momentum. We derive a set of coupled multiparticle equations for the atomic motion in which the vacuum-mode field is adiabatically eliminated. The resulting equations describe collective recoil as due to either transfer of linear momentum or orbital angular momentum. For a transverse annular atomic distribution the initial equilibrium with uniform atomic phases and no scattered field is unstable. The atoms are set in rotation and bunched in phase at different harmonics depending on the pump azimuthal index $\ensuremath{\ell}$ and on the ring radius.
We report on the observation of collective atomic recoil lasing and superradiant Rayleigh scattering with ultracold and Bose-Einstein condensed atoms in an optical ring cavity. Both phenomena are based on instabilities evoked by the collective interaction of light with cold atomic gases. This publication clarifies the link between the two effects. The observation of superradiant behavior with thermal clouds as hot as several tens of $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ proves that the phenomena are driven by the cooperative dynamics of the atoms, which is strongly enhanced by the presence of the ring cavity.
We present a theoretical study of the interaction between light and a cold gasof three-level, ladder configuration atoms close to two-photon resonance. In particular, weinvestigate the existence of collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL) instabilities in differentregimes of internal atomic excitation and compare to previous studies of the CARL instabilityinvolving two-level atoms. In the case of two-level atoms, the CARL instability is quenchedat high pump rates with significant atomic excitation by saturation of the (one-photon)coherence, which produces the optical forces responsible for the instability and rapid heatingdue to high spontaneous emission rates. We show that in the two-photon CARL schemestudied here involving three-level atoms, CARL instabilities can survive at high pump rateswhen the atoms have significant excitation, due to the contributions to the optical forces frommultiple coherences and the reduction of spontaneous emission due to transitions betweenthe populated states being dipole forbidden. This two-photon CARL scheme may form thebasis of methods to increase the effective nonlinear optical response of cold atomic gases.
We observe the buildup of a frequency-shifted reverse light field in a unidirectionally pumped high-Q optical ring cavity serving as a dipole trap for cold atoms. This effect is enhanced and a steady state is reached, if via an optical molasses an additional friction force is applied to the atoms. We observe the displacement of the atoms accelerated by momentum transfer in the backscattering process and interpret our observations in terms of the collective atomic recoil laser. Numerical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results.