2008/06/05 by Éric Akkermans, E. Akkermans, A. Gero +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Atomic physics #Density matrix #Diatomic molecule #Dimensionless quantity #Dipole #Hamiltonian (control theory) #Laser #Molecule #Photon #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Scaling #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Superradiance #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.103602
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 103602 (2008) · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2008/06/05 · openalex publication_date 2008/09/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Photon propagation in a gas of N atoms is studied using an effective Hamiltonian describing photon-mediated atomic dipolar interactions. The density P(Gamma) of photon escape rates is determined from the spectrum of the NxN random matrix Gammaij=sin(xij)/xij, where xij is the dimensionless random distance between any two atoms. Varying disorder and system size, a scaling behavior is observed for the escape rates. It is explained using microscopic calculations and a stochastic model which emphasizes the role of cooperative effects in photon localization and provides an interesting relation with statistical properties of "small world networks."