Few-photon localization in disordered atomic clouds

• Grant number: 23/11118-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Support Program for Fixating Young Doctors
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: October 05, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Agreement: CNPq
• Principal Investigator: Romain Pierre Marcel Bachelard
• Grantee: Carlos Eduardo Máximo
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/01213-0 - Few-photon localization in disordered atomic clouds, AP.R

Abstract

Anderson localization of light is still being intensively investigated, with an unambiguous experimental report still missing, since various caveats were identified from previous measurements. In particular, while Anderson localization refers a single-photon process, realistic experiments involve a large number of photons. In this project, we propose to investigate the localization of several photons in disordered systems of cold atoms, with the double purpose of (1) identifying the effect of having more than one photon in the system, (2) taking a first step toward a study of many-body localization of light. This project focuses on 2D systems, which present the advantage of presenting both scalar (localizing) and vectorial (non-localizing) scattering channels.