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arXiv · 0912.1992

Modification of radiation pressure due to cooperative scattering of light

Philippe Courteille·Simone Bux·Eleonora Lucioni·Katharina Lauber·Tom Bienaime·Robin Kaiser·Nicola Piovella
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Abstract

Cooperative spontaneous emission of a single photon from a cloud of N atoms modifies substantially the radiation pressure exerted by a far-detuned laser beam exciting the atoms. On one hand, the force induced by photon absorption depends on the collective decay rate of the excited atomic state. On the other hand, directional spontaneous emission counteracts the recoil induced by the absorption. We derive an analytical expression for the radiation pressure in steady-state. For a smooth extended atomic distribution we show that the radiation pressure depends on the atom number via cooperative scattering and that, for certain atom numbers, it can be suppressed or enhanced.

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Philippe Courteille, Simone Bux, Eleonora Lucioni, Katharina Lauber, Tom Bienaime, Robin Kaiser, Nicola Piovella. 2009-12-10. Modification of radiation pressure due to cooperative scattering of light. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00095-6

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