Related papers: Optical Manipulation of Light Scattering in Cold A…
Cold atomic gases resonantly excited to Rydberg states can exhibit strong optical nonlinearity at the single photon level. We observe that in such samples radiation trapping leads to an additional mechanism for Rydberg excitation.…
We study the light scattering by localized quasi planar excitations of a Cholesteric Liquid Crystal known as spherulites. Due to the anisotropic optical properties of the medium and the peculiar shape of the excitations, we quantitatively…
We consider deflection of polarizable molecules by inhomogeneous optical fields, and analyze the role of molecular orientation and rotation in the scattering process. It is shown that molecular rotation induces spectacular rainbow-like…
We experimentally and numerically study the temporal dynamics of light scattered by large clouds of cold atoms after the exciting laser is switched off in the low intensity (linear optics) regime. Radiation trapping due to multiple…
A cloud of cold N two-level atoms driven by a resonant laser beam shows cooperative effects both in the scattered radiation field and in the radiation pressure force acting on the cloud center-of-mass. The induced dipoles synchronize and…
We study numerically the slow (subradiant) decay of the fluorescence of motionless atoms after a weak pulsed excitation. We show that, in the linear-optics regime and for an excitation detuned by several natural linewidths, the slow decay…
Collective coherent light scattering by polarizable particles creates surprisingly strong, long range inter-particle forces originating from interference of the light scattered by different particles. While for monochromatic laser beams…
Slow light is a fascinating physical effect, raising fundamental questions related to our understanding of light-matter interactions as well as offering new possibilities for photonic devices. From the first demonstrations of slow light…
Scattering has usually be considered as detrimental for optical focusing or imaging. Recently, more and more research has shown that strongly scattering materials can be utilized to focus coherent light by controlling or shaping the…
We present an experimental study of a four beam optical lattice using the light scattered by the atoms in the lattice. We use both intensity correlations and observations of the transient behavior of the scattering when the lattice is…
Superradiance has been extensively studied in the 1970s and 1980s in the regime of superfluores-cence, where a large number of atoms are initially excited. Cooperative scattering in the linear-optics regime, or "single-photon superradiance"…
The optical medium analogy of a radiation field generated by either an exact gravitational plane wave or an exact electromagnetic wave in the framework of general relativity is developed. The equivalent medium of the associated background…
We study how the radiative properties of a dense ensemble of atoms can be modified when they are placed near or between metallic or dielectric surfaces. If the average separation between the atoms is comparable or smaller than the…
Population of levels of the hyperfine and fine split ground state of an atom is affected by radiative transitions induced by anisotropic radiation flux. Such aligned atoms precess in the external magnetic field and this affects properties…
Collective effects in atom-light interaction is of great importance for cold-atom-based quantum devices or fundamental studies on light transport in complex media. Here we discuss and compare three different approaches to light scattering…
Collective coherent scattering of laser light by an ensemble of polarizable point particles creates long range interactions, whose properties can be tailored by choice of injected laser powers, frequencies and polarizations. We use a…
Results of a fairly straightforward experiment on resonant magneto-optical rotation by rubidium-87 atoms revealed strong time-dependence of the polarization plane of light emerging from atomic vapors following a sudden irradiation with a…
Since the work of Anderson on localization, interference effects for the propagation of a wave in the presence of disorder have been extensively studied, as exemplified in coherent backscattering (CBS) of light. In the multiple scattering…
Propagation of light in a highly scattering medium is among the most fascinating optical effect that everyone experiences on an everyday basis and possesses a number of fundamental problems which have yet to be solved. Conventional wisdom…
We consider deflection of polarizable molecules by inhomogeneous optical fields, and analyze the role of molecular orientation and rotation in the scattering process. It is shown that molecular rotation induces spectacular rainbow-like…