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Creating and probing long‐range order in atomic clouds
Author(s) -
von Cube C.,
Slama S.,
Kohler M.,
Zimmermann C.,
Courteille Ph.W.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
fortschritte der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.469
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1521-3978
pISSN - 0015-8208
DOI - 10.1002/prop.200610307
Subject(s) - range (aeronautics) , order (exchange) , astrobiology , environmental science , physics , aerospace engineering , engineering , business , finance
Ultracold atoms interacting with the optical modes of a high‐ Q optical ring cavity can synchronize their motion. The collective behavior makes the system interesting for quantum computing applications. This paper is devoted to the study of the collective coupling. We report on the first observation of a collective dynamics and on the realization of a laser, the gain mechanism of which is based on collective atomic recoil. We show that, if the atoms are subject to a friction force, starting from an unordered distribution they spontaneously form a moving density grating. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a 1D atomic density grating can be probed via Bragg scattering. By heterodyning the Bragg‐reflected light with a reference beam, we obtain detailed information on phase shifts induced by the Bragg scattering process.