Suppression of directional light-wave mixing in normal and quantum gases
L. Deng, Chengjie Zhu, E. W. Hagley +1 more
We discuss nonlinear optical processes in the presence of quantum gases. We show that, in contrast to a normal gas, where the medium ``passively'' participates in nonlinear optical processes, quantum gases ``actively'' interact with the wave mixing process by enforcing the properties arising from condensed matter physics on the generation and propagation of new light fields. This manifestation of condensed matter physics leads to intriguing suppression and enhancement effects in directional wave generation and propagation processes that have no counterpart in a normal gas. This opens a new chapter on light-matter-wave mixing and scattering: nonlinear optics with quantum gases.
Physical Review A•Oct 30, 2013•3 citations