2020/12/31 by C. D. Parmee, Janne Ruostekoski, J. Ruostekoski · 22 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Bistability #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Dipole #Excitation #Laser #Light field #Light intensity #Light scattering #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Nonlinear optics #Optical bistability #Optics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Ray #Scattering #cond-mat.quant-gas #physics.atom-ph #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.103.033706
published in Physical Review A 103(3) (American Physical Society) · 16 pages, 7 figures; discussion added to conclusions
arxiv created 2021/02/19 · openalex publication_date 2021/03/15 · arxiv updated 2021/03/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We determine the transmission of light through a planar atomic array beyond the limit of low light intensity that displays optical bistability in the mean-field regime. We develop a theory describing the intrinsic optical bistability, which is supported purely by resonant dipole-dipole interactions in free space, showing how bistable light amplitudes exhibit both strong cooperative and weak single-atom responses and how they depend on the underlying low light intensity collective excitation eigenmodes. Similarities of the theory with optical bistability in cavities are highlighted, while recurrent light scattering between atoms takes on the role of cavity mirrors. Our numerics and analytic estimates show a sharp variation in the extinction, reflectivity, and group delays of the array, with the incident light completely extinguished up to a critical intensity well beyond the low light intensity limit. Our analysis paves a way for collective nonlinear optics with cooperatively responding dense atomic ensembles.