Optical Properties of Collective Excitations for Finite Chains of Trapped Atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how resonant dipole interactions influence the energy, decay, and emission properties of finite chains of ultracold atoms, revealing dark and bright collective modes and their potential for probing system structure.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of collective excitations in finite atomic chains, including the effects of segment interactions and defects on optical properties.

Findings

Identification of dark and bright collective modes.

Demonstration of interaction blockade effects.

Analysis of emission patterns for defect detection.

Abstract

Resonant dipole-dipole interaction modifies the energy and decay rate of electronic excitations for finite one dimensional chains of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We show that collective excited states of the atomic chain can be divided into dark and bright modes, where a superradiant mode with an enhanced collective effective dipole dominates the optical scattering. Studying the generic case of two chain segments of different length and position exhibits an interaction blockade and spatially structured light emission. Ultimately, an extended system of several interfering segments models a long chain with randomly distributed defects of vacant sites. The corresponding emission pattern provides a sensitive tool to study structural and dynamical properties of the system.