Light scattering by dense atomic samples: temporal properties of the light emission in the linear and saturated regimes

• Grant number: 23/00866-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Principal Investigator: Philippe Wilhelm Courteille
• Grantee: Ana Cipris
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/23873-3 - Coherent transport of light in dense atomic clouds, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/13462-7 - Towards the Generation of Non-Classical Light in 3D Cold-Atom Samples, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The behavior of the light scattering in 3D disordered samples of mean free path smaller than one wavelength is a long-standing open question. The several tentative measurements for the Anderson localization of light in this regime showed inconclusive, and recent theoretical work questioned the emergence of the phenomena. Understanding the light transport properties in dense media, apart from the fundamental interest, has applications for the imaging of biological tissues, for improving the spatial resolution of imaging systems, and for the quest of entanglement of building blocks for quantum memories and quantum computation. This project aims, first, at investigating this problem within a cold atomic cloud of isotropic atoms, by accessing important observables such as the temporal correlation functions of the scattered light and the temporal behavior of the light emission by the dense cloud. The temporal decay of the light emission present collective effects linked to the mutual coherence of the atoms within the cloud and to the interference between the emission of each one of them. In this project, we also want to investigate the crossover between the linear superradiance and the superradiance of inverted atomic ensembles, as a way to put into evidence the role of the mutual coherence to the superradiant emission.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

COURTEILLE, PH. W.; RIVERO, D.; DE FRANCA, G. H.; PESSOA JR, C. A.; CIPRIS, A.; PORTELA, M. NUNEZ; TEIXEIRA, R. C.; SLAMA, S.. Photonic bands and normal mode splitting in optical lattices interacting with cavities. PHYSICAL REVIEW A, v. 111, n. 1, p. 18-pg., 2025-01-17. (18/23873-3, 23/10014-0, 19/13143-0, 13/04162-5, 23/16523-4, 24/03884-1, 13/07276-1, 22/00261-8, 23/00866-0)