Photonic Hall effect in cold atomic clouds

TL;DR

This paper explores the photonic Hall effect in cold atomic clouds, demonstrating significant magneto-optical effects and suggesting experimental feasibility for observing this phenomenon in such systems.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed numerical and analytical analysis of the photonic Hall effect in resonant cold atomic clouds, highlighting giant magneto-optical effects.

Findings

Hall currents in cold atomic clouds are in the percent range.

Giant magneto-optical effects are observed at resonance.

Photonic Hall effect is experimentally accessible in cold atomic vapors.

Abstract

On the basis of exact numerical simulations and analytical calculations, we describe qualitatively and quantitatively the interference processes at the origin of the photonic Hall effect for resonant Rayleigh (point-dipole) scatterers in a magnetic field. For resonant incoming light, the induced giant magneto-optical effects result in relative Hall currents in the percent range, three orders of magnitude larger than with classical scatterers. This suggests that the observation of the photonic Hall effect in cold atomic vapors is within experimental reach.