2004/09/17 by Stefano Zippilli, Giovanna Morigi, Helmut Ritsch · 32 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atom (system on chip) #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Excitation #Lattice (music) #Optical lattice #Phase (matter) #Physics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Scattering #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.123002
published in Physical Review Letters 93(12), 123002 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 5 figures
openalex publication_date 2004/09/17 · arxiv created 2007/03/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
When N driven atoms emit in phase into a high-Q cavity mode, the intracavity field generated by collective scattering interferes destructively with the pump driving the atoms. Hence atomic fluorescence is suppressed and cavity loss becomes the dominant decay channel for the whole ensemble. Microscopically, 3D light-intensity minima are formed in the vicinity of the atoms that prevent atomic excitation and form a regular lattice. The effect gets more pronounced for large atom numbers, when the sum of the atomic decay rates exceeds the rate of cavity losses and one would expect the opposite behavior. These results provide new insight into recent experiments on collective atomic dynamics in cavities.