Physical Review A

Nonlinear dynamics of coupled light and particle beam propagation

Prabhat Kumar, Derek Kuldinow, Andres M. Castillo, Alexandros Gerakis, Kentaro Hara

Published Apr 2, 2021• 5 citations

Abstract

Propagation of a light beam through a collisional and inhomogeneous beam of neutral particles is investigated. The light beam can be manipulated through the refractive index that is affected by the gaseous medium. Simultaneously, neutral particles experience optical dipole force and scattering force due to atomic polarizability, leading to particle trapping. The simulation results of fully coupled light-particle propagation show agreement with experimental data from the literature. The effects of particle density, detuning frequency with respect to the resonance frequency, and light intensity on the mutual guiding of light and particle beams is studied for particle beam densities below the critical density that results in single-mode operation of optical waveguides.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.103.043502

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