Related papers: Atomic diffraction from nanostructured optical pot…
We explore various models for the pattern forming instability in a laser-driven cloud of cold two-level atoms with a plane feedback mirror. Focus is on the combined treatment of nonlinear propagation in a diffractively thick medium and the…
A theoretical approach for uniformly extracting light propagating through a light guide plate is developed here. Typically, liquid crystal display modalities utilize a backlit lighting system illuminated from the edge with light emitting…
We present a theoretical treatment of light scattering by an ensemble of N dipoles, taking into account recurrent multiple scattering. We study the intrinsic optical properties of collective dipolar systems without specifying a particular…
The spectrum of the light scattered from an extended atomic wave packet is calculated. For a wave packet consisting of two spatially separated peaks moving on parallel trajectories, the spectrum contains Ramsey-like fringes that are…
The optical properties of randomly positioned, resonant scatterers is a fundamentally difficult problem to address across a wide range of densities and geometries. We investigate it experimentally using a dense cloud of rubidium atoms…
We introduce a method for shaping a cold atom cloud using a vortex laser beam with a polarization singularity at its center, which creates a point of vanishing intensity. Exploiting this feature we experimentally demonstrate two different…
We investigate an integrated optical chip immersed in atomic vapor providing several waveguide geometries for spectroscopy applications. The narrow-band transmission through a silicon nitride waveguide and interferometer is altered when the…
A propagation method for the scattering of a quantum wave packet from a potential surface is presented. It is used to model the quantum reflection of single atoms from a corrugated (metallic) surface. Our numerical procedure works well in…
Matter-wave interferometry has become an essential tool in studies on the foundations of quantum physics and for precision measurements. Mechanical gratings have played an important role as coherent beamsplitters for atoms, molecules and…
Cold atomic clouds constitute highly resonant nonlinear optical media, whose refractive index can be easily tuned via the light frequency. When subjected to a retro-reflected laser beam and under appropriate conditions, the cloud undergoes…
We study theoretically the scattering of light by an ensemble of $N$ resonant atoms in a sub-wavelength volume. We consider the low intensity regime so that each atom responds linearly to the field. While $N$ non-interacting atoms would…
We demonstrate the use of nanodiamond in constructing holographic nanoparticle-polymer composite transmission gratings with large saturated refractive index modulation amplitudes at both optical and slow-neutron wavelengths, resulting in…
We theoretically show that the dipole force of an ensemble of quantum emitters embedded in a dielectric nanosphere can be exploited to achieve near-field optical levitation. The key ingredient is that the polarizability from the ensemble of…
The quest to manipulate light propagation in ways not possible with natural media has driven the development of artificially structured metamaterials. One of the most striking effects is negative refraction, where the light beam deflects…
The effects of thermal diffuse scattering on the transmission and eventual diffraction of highly accelerated electrons are investigated with a method that incorporates the frozen phonon approximation to the exact numerical solution of the…
Super- and subradiance are usually described in the framework of Dicke collective states, which is an ``atomic picture'' in which the electromagnetic field only provides an effective interaction between the atoms. Here, we discuss a…
Using the electrostatic approximation, we analyze electromagnetic fields scattered by sharp conical metal tips, which are illuminated with light polarized along the tip axis. We establish scaling relations for the scattered field amplitude…
We propose a theoretical scheme in a cold Rubidium-87 ($^{87}$Rb) atomic ensemble with a non-Hermitian optical structure, in which a lopsided optical diffraction grating can be realized just with the combination of single spatially periodic…
We consider the problem of quantum scattering of a localized wave packet by a weak Gaussian potential in two spatial dimensions. We show that, under certain conditions, this problem bears close analogy with that of focusing (or defocusing)…
We compare the behavior of propagating and evanescent light waves in absorbing media with that of electrons in the presence of inelastic scattering. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant results primarily in an exponential decay of…