2008/04/15 by M. Vengalattore, Mukund Vengalattore, Mohammad Hafezi +5 · 25 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Bistability #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Laser #Nonlinear optics #Optical bistability #Optical cavity #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Recoil #Resonance (particle physics) #Ultracold atom #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.063901
published in Physical Review Letters 101(6), 063901 (American Physical Society)
arxiv created 2008/04/15 · openalex publication_date 2008/08/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We demonstrate optical nonlinearities due to the interaction of weak optical fields with the collective motion of a strongly dispersive ultracold gas. The combination of a recoil-induced resonance in the high gain regime and optical waveguiding within the dispersive medium enables us to achieve a collective atomic cooperativity of 275+/-50 even in the absence of a cavity. As a result, we observe optical bistability at input powers as low as 20 pW. The present scheme allows for dynamic optical control of the dispersive properties of the ultracold gas using very weak pulses of light. The experimental observations are in good agreement with a theoretical model.