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Journal of Modern Optics

Decoherence effects in superradiant light scattering from a moving bose-einstein condensate

R. Bonifacio, F. S. Cataliotti, Mary M. Cola, L. Fallani, C. Fort, N. Piovella, M. Inguscio

Published Apr 1, 2004• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We present the results of an experiment on superradiant Rayleigh scattering from a moving Bose-Einstein condensate, where a superposition of two atomic wavepackets is created by the interaction of a far-detuned laser beam with the condensate. The system is described by the CARL-BEC model which is a generalization of the Gross-Pitaevskii model to include the self-consistent evolution of the scattered field. The experiment gives evidence of a damping of the matter-wave grating which depends on the initial velocity of the condensate. We describe this damping in terms of a phase-diffusion decoherence process, in good agreement with the experimental results. In a second experiment we add a seeding beam counterpropagating with respect to the pump beam. Varying intensity and frequency of the seed, we investigate the transition from the superradiant regime to the Rabi oscillations regime, evidencing fundamental differences between these two processes.

DOI
10.1080/09500340408233596

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We present the results of an experiment on superradiant Rayleigh scattering from a moving Bose-Einstein condensate, where a superposition of two atomic wavepackets is created by the interaction of a far-detuned laser beam with the condensate. The system is described by the CARL-BEC model which is a generalization of the Gross-Pitaevskii model to include the self-consistent evolution of the scattered field. The experiment gives evidence of a damping of the matter-wave grating which depends on the initial velocity of the condensate. We describe this damping in terms of a phase-diffusion decoherence process, in good agreement with the experimental results. In a second experiment we add a seeding beam counterpropagating with respect to the pump beam. Varying intensity and frequency of the seed, we investigate the transition from the superradiant regime to the Rabi oscillations regime, evidencing fundamental differences between these two processes.
We present the results of an experiment on light scattering from an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) interacting with a far-off-resonant pump laser. By collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL) a coherent superposition of two atomic wave packets with different momenta is created. Varying the intensity of a weak counterpropagating laser beam we observe the transition from the pure superradiant regime to the Bragg scattering regime, where Rabi oscillations in a two-level system are observed. The process is limited by the decoherence between the two atomic wave packets. In the superradiant regime the experiment gives evidence of a contribution to decoherence which depends on the initial velocity of the condensate. The system is described by the CARL-BEC model, which is a generalization of the Gross-Pitaevskii model to include the self-consistent evolution of the scattered field and a phase-diffusion decoherence process, which accounts for the observed damping.
The non-equilibrium dynamics of the superradiant scattering of light from a BEC is experimentally investigated by monitoring the time evolution of the population in the condensate. In the experiment, a cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate of /sup 87/Rb atoms is produced and is exposed to a single off-resonant laser pulse directed along the condensate symmetry axis. The superradiant back-scattering of light creates a matter wave pulse moving in the same direction of the laser beam at twice the photon recoil velocity with respect to the original condensate. The efficiency of the process is limited by decoherence between the two atomic spatially overlapped wavepackets. The temporal evolution of the condensate observed in the experiment as well as the results of a simple semiclassical model in which the condensate is described by a density operator for the motional states. The population of the two matter wavepackets as a function of the light pulse duration is reported, together with the experimental points with the analytical formula resulting from the theory of collective atomic recoil laser (CARL).
Due to its coherence properties and high optical depth, a Bose–Einstein condensate [BEC] provides an ideal setting to investigate collective atom-light interactions. Superradiant light scattering [SLS] in a BEC is a fascinating example of such an interaction. It is an analogous process to Dicke superradiance, in which an electronically inverted sample decays collectively, leading to the emission of one or more light pulses in a well-defined direction. Through time-resolved measurements of the superradiant light pulses emitted by an end-pumped BEC, we study the close connection of SLS with Dicke superradiance. A 1D model of the system yields good agreement with the experimental data and shows that the dynamics result from the structures that build up in the light and matter-wave fields along the BEC. This paves the way for exploiting the atom–photon correlations generated by the superradiance.
In this paper, we consider two models which exhibit equilibrium BEC superradiance. They are related to two different types of superradiant scattering observed in recent experiments. The first one corresponds to the amplification of matter waves due to Raman superradiant scattering from a BE condensate, when the recoiled and the condensed atoms are in different internal states. The main mechanism is stimulated Raman scattering in two-level atoms, which occurs in a superradiant way. Our second model is related to the superradiant Rayleigh scattering from a BE condensate. This again leads to a matter-wave amplification but now with the recoiled atoms in the same state as the atoms in the condensate. Here the recoiling atoms are able to interfere with the condensate at rest to form a matter-wave grating (interference fringes ) which is observed experimentally.
A semi-classical theory of coherent light scattering from an elongated sample of cold atoms exposed to an off-resonant laser beam is presented. The model, which is a direct extension of that of the collective atomic recoil laser (CARL), describes the emission of two superradiant pulses along the sample's major axis simultaneous with the formation of a bidimensional atomic grating inside the sample. It provides a simple physical picture of the recent observation of collective light scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate [S. Inouye et al., Science N.285, p. 571 (1999)]. In addition, the model provides an analytical description of the temporal evolution of the scattered light intensity which shows good quantitative agreement with the experimental results of Inouye et al.