2020/08/08 by Rasoul Alaee, Akbar Safari, Vahid Sandoghdar +1 · 19 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Antenna (radio) #Atomic physics #Dipole #Electric dipole transition #Forward scatter #Magnetic dipole #Optics #Physics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Radiation #Scattering #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Telecommunications #Terahertz technology and applications #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.2.043409
published in Physical Review Research 2(4) (American Physical Society) · 14 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2020/08/08 · openalex created_date 2020/08/13 · openalex publication_date 2020/12/22 · arxiv updated 2021/01/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study scattering phenomena such as the Kerker effect, superscattering, and scattering dark states in a subwavelength atomic antenna consisting of atoms with only electric dipole transitions. We show that an atomic antenna can exhibit arbitrarily large or small scattering cross sections depending on the geometry of the structure and the direction of the impinging light. We also demonstrate that atoms with only an electric dipole transition can exhibit a directional radiation pattern with zero backscattering when placed in a certain configuration. This is a special case of a phenomenon known as the Kerker effect, which typically occurs in the presence of both electric and magnetic transitions. Our findings open a pathway to design highly directional emitters, nonradiating sources, and highly scattering objects based on individually controlled atoms.