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Laser Physics

Transverse effects in collective atomic recoil lasing

N. Piovella, Luca Volpe, Mary M. Cola, R. Bonifacio

Published Feb 1, 2007• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate transverse effects in collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL), where a cold atomic sample is lightened by a far detuned laser beam resonant with the internal atomic transition. The gradient force of the scattered radiation field produces a collective self-focusing on the atoms, which could be observed in a Bose-Einstein condensate stored in a bidirectional optical ring cavity or in the superradiant CARL-BEC regime.

DOI
10.1134/s1054660x07020223

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We investigate transverse effects in collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL), where a cold atomic sample is lightened by a far detuned laser beam resonant with the internal atomic transition. The gradient force of the scattered radiation field produces a collective self-focusing on the atoms, which could be observed in a Bose-Einstein condensate stored in a bidirectional optical ring cavity or in the superradiant CARL-BEC regime.
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.
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.
Collective scattering of light due to atomic recoil, also known as collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL), occurs when a gas of atoms coherently scatters light from a pump laser via a collective instability. The scattering process can become unstable due to the atoms in the gas recoiling under the influence of the dynamic optical forces which arise due to the interference of the pump and scattered fields. The atoms move to form a spatially periodic density grating, which in turn amplifies the scattered field. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of CARL phenomena in degenerate ultracold gases of bosons and fermions. In the case of bosons i.e. in a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC),the effect of atom-atom interactions due to collisions on the CARL instability in the case of both attractive and repulsive condensates, is investigated. In the case of fermionic gases, the effect of Fermi pressure, is also presented. The linear and nonlinear evolution of the optical field and the atomic momentum distribution are considered for both cases.
We experimentally investigate cold thermal atoms in a single sidedly pumped optical ring resonator for temperatures between 0.4 and $9\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. The threshold for collective atomic recoil lasing (CARL) is recorded for various pump-cavity detunings. The resulting stability diagram is interpreted by simulating the classical CARL equations. We find that the stability diagram for thermal atoms shows the same asymmetry as observed for Bose-Einstein condensates in previous experiments. Whereas for condensates the asymmetry is well explained by a Dicke-type quantum model we here discuss a simplified classical model. It complements the quantum model and provides an intuitive explanation based on the change in the long-range atomic interaction with pump-cavity detuning.